from Mesolonghi and Southern ^Efolia. 283 



bably the bini that dropped a toi'toise on the bald head of poor 

 ohl .Eschyhis. Not, howevei*, that he restricts himself, or the 

 huge black infant that he and his mate are bringing up, in 

 one of the many holes with which the limestone precipice 

 abounds, to marrow, turtle, bones, and similar delicacies : 

 neither lamb, hare, nor kid come amiss to him, though, his power 

 of claw and beak being feeble for so large a bird, he cannot 

 tear his meat like other Vultures and Eagles, To make amends 

 for this, his powers of deglutition are enormous. The Greeks 

 believe he will swallow and digest anything ; but the stories I 

 have heard on this point are too marvellous to be mentioned in 

 the ' Ibis ' *. The chai*acter of the Greeks for mendacity is well 

 known : any naturalist travelling in this country will find their 

 information as unreliable as their assistance is unwilling. I 

 once saw a mature bird of this species which had evidently 

 swallowed a bone, or something uncommonly indigestible, close 

 to the abattoir at Athens. He was in a very uncomfortable 

 attitude, and appeared to be leaning on his long tail for support. 

 After riding round in continually decreasing circles till within 

 ten yards, 1 dropped off horseback and made a rush at him ; but 

 he just managed to escape, and then rising slowly till about the 

 height of the Acropolis, made off towards the Gorge of Phylc, 

 where there is an eyry. The Lammergeyer has an extremely iigly 

 countenance; this becomes perfectly diabolical when he is irritated 

 and shows the bright red round his eyes. Altogether, what with 

 his black beard, rufous breast, and long dark tail, he is an awful- 

 looking beast, and has the reputation of committing divers evil 

 deeds, — such, for instance, as pushing lambs and kids, and even 

 men, off the rocks, when they are in ticklish situations. Never- 

 theless he is a somewhat cowardly bird, has a feeble querulous cry, 

 and will submit to insults from a Falcon not a fourth his size or 

 weight. 



The 01 dy inhabitcnl nest of this species we discovered was 

 situated in the face of the upper tier of precipices which form the 

 re-entering angle of the Great Klissoura, looking due north, and 



* One man averred that an old axe-head had been found in tliis bird. 

 If so, the nieetinf^ of tlie marrow-bones and eleaver must have been affect- 

 ing in the cxh-eme, 



VOL. II, X 



