It is merely the incredible fecundity of the bird and the vast area of waste lands that preserves the breed. Partridge in Spain are like rabbits in Australia--indestructible. The trout affords another example. Everywhere else on earth the trout is prized as one of nature's valued gifts--hard to over-appreciate. Fully one-half of Spain is expressly adapted to its requirements. Trout were intended by nature to abound over the northern half of Spain--say down to the latitude of Madrid, and even in the extreme south where conditions are favourable, as in the Sierra Neváda. Trout might abound in Spain to the full as they abound in Scotland or Norway, adding value to every river and a grace to country life. But what is the treatment meted out to the trout in Spain? No sooner is its presence detected than the whole stock--big and little alike, even the spawn--is blown out of existence with dynamite, poisoned by quicklime, or captured wholesale (regardless of season or condition) in nets, cruives, funnel-traps, and every other abomination. Kill and eat, big or little, breeding female or immature--it matters not; kill all you can to-day and leave the morrow to itself. True, there are game-laws and close-seasons, but none observe them.[4] [Illustration: TYPES OF SPANISH BIRD-LIFE DARTFORD WARBLER (_Sylvia undata_) Resident. Frequents deep furze-coverts, seldom seen (as we are constrained to represent it) in separate outline.] We have selected these examples because we know and can speak with absolute authority. Presumption and analogy will naturally suggest that the same intelligence, the same blind improvidence will apply equally in other and far more important matters. Not one of our Spanish friends with whom we have discussed these subjects time and again but agrees to the letter with the above conclusions and most bitterly regrets them. CHAPTER II UNEXPLORED SPAIN (_Continued_) ON TRAVEL AND OTHER THINGS Travel in all the wilder regions of Spain implies the saddle. Our Spain begins, as premised, where roads end. For us railways exist merely to help us one degree nearer to the final plunge into the unknown; and not railways only, but roads and bridges soon "petter out" into trackless waste, and leave the explorer face to face with open wilds--_despoblados_, that is, uninhabited regions--with a route-map in his pocket that is quite unreliable, and a trusty local guide who is just the reverse. [Illustration: TYPES OF SPANISH BIRD-LIFE FANTAIL WARBLER (_Cisticola cursitans_) Resident: builds a deep purse-like nest supported on long grass or rushes.]