( 5:w ) 



more or less gregarious, the Bearded Vulture cannot be called common, bnt rather 

 rare, althon^h it is fonnd liore and there all over Algeria in snitably places — viz., 

 quiet, iittle-dishirhed inimiitiiius with steep rocks, on which it finds holes or ledges 

 to nest in. The first time we saw it was at El Kaiitnrii, I'.iOS, where a pair were 

 freijuently seen passing over the gorge and liotel. A goatherd took one of us to a 

 place where he declared the " Boa-lechia " (the Arab name of Gi/paetus, meaning 

 "the father or owner of tlie beard") was nesting. .\n .Vral) climbed to the nest, which 

 was empty and contained wings of a small bird only : though the man declared he 

 had taken tlie yonng Bearded Vulture from the nest the year before, and it was his 

 belief that it nested there then, this was probably not the case. It is true that 

 most Arabs know the bird ; but many do not, for we have received Bonelli's Eagle 

 as a " Bon-lechia," and were taken to a Buzzard's nest said to be; that of the 

 (i)/jtat'tuis. We also saw a Lammergeyer twice near Biskra, where it seems to come 

 for food from the mountains. 



Both in 1909 and 1911 we saw specimens on the Djebel Taya, east of 

 t!onstantine, where it was observed half a century ago by Sclater and Salvin, 

 and in 1909 we obtained there a beautiful male. 



In 1911 we were taken to a nest on the Djebel Metlili. To reach the place 



> 





THB NKSTLINli BEARDKD Vui.TUKli. 



was not easy. After a long ride followed a long climb, and at last vff saw tlic 

 bird's head and neck looking out of a hole in the middle of a steep elift' We got 

 right under the nest, but only the head and neck being visible a rifle-shot was 

 useless, unless one wished to destroy the bird — which was not our object, of 

 course — and it was too high for shot : shots fired with the twelve-bore, when the 

 bird was driven out, reniained without any eflect. Hartert and Hilgert returned 

 next day and climbed an opposite steep mountain, from where it was possible to 

 look into the nest, and thus succeeded in shooting the female with a rifle. 



The nest was situated in one of the (jueercst i)laces ever seen : what looked 

 like a stee|) mountain-side was a sheet of rock, standing out like a huge rough 

 plank, and only a few yards wide on the top. .Some Aralis volunteered to take the 

 contents of the nest — for a good remnneratiou of course. After they had been away 

 for hours they had to send for more ropes, and at last succeeded in liringing in a 



