264 JO UMNAL, BOMjRA T NA TURAL m^T) SOGIJETT, Vol. XXVI 



■ ■ X that ttie bone invariably went down the more 



easily. 

 'In his wild state the Lammergeyer is gifted with 

 the patience pf Job and is prepared to spend an en- 

 tire morning in the breaking of a refactory bone 

 that is too big to swallow* i 1 watched one on the 

 Braribal Pass into Kashmir, for well over an hour 

 trying to JDreak his bone. When I arrived on the 

 Pass he was there, and how, long he had been at it 

 previous to my coming, 1 don't kuow, but 1 had 

 breakfast not far from whe,re he was performing, and 

 when 1 left, which was a good hour from the time 1 

 arrived, he was still trying to break his bone. The 

 "modus operandi " is as follows : — 



Having secured his bone the bird flies up to a con- 

 siderable height above a boulder strewn uallah or 

 plain, and then drops his bone. If he is fortunate 

 the bono strikes a boulder and breaks, and he fol- 

 lows leisurely down and swallows the pieces, but in 

 the above instance, he either had a particularly 

 tough bone or it never struck a hard enough stone 

 at the right angle. 



In the autumn, and in fact from about the begin- 

 ning of September to the beginning of November, it 

 is a lovely sight to watch a pair of these fine birds 

 mating. One will be seen dropping from the hea- 

 vens with closed wings till within a few feet of 

 another, on a lower plane. No. 2 turns over on its 

 ; ^ back to receive the onslaught and No. 1, with a 



slight openiug of the wings and tail, appears to just 

 miss the other, and immediately rises almost verti- 

 cally up again. Again he attacks, and if he has 

 judged his angle correctly, No. 2 begins a succession 

 of zigzags, dropping fast, with semi-closed wings, but 

 not fast enough to get away from No. I. As the latter 

 again approaches to within a few feet. No. 2 changes 

 its tactics and opening its wings to their full, 

 begins rising with tremendous beats of wings, clo- 

 sely followed by No. 1. Up the two go for a short 

 distance, the pursuer within a few inches of the 

 pursued, when seemingly, having reached the limit 

 '^ of its endurance, stops flapping and again drops, 



then Bails away. They will' then perhaps circle for 

 a short time, rising steadily higher and higher, 

 and once more repeat the process. Sometimes the 

 game ends in their claws interlocking and the pair 

 coming down in a succession of Catherine wheels, 

 ' ' almost to the ground, when they suddenly part 



■' cohipany and forthwith begin to mount up again, or 



they mi^^ht simply go on and on, ever rising, 

 until they go clean out of sight over some distant 

 '-' ' range. ' ^ 



• ■■■ The flight of the LamtiieTgeyer is unmistakable. 



T rs ; ' The long pointed wihgs, narrow in comparison to 



'■''■■ ' ■ their length' and the lorig' wedge-shaped tail, are 



--^ aufficibnt to procl&lrii his identity at any height. 



