LAMMERGEYER 501 



In some extei'nal characters the Lammergeyer is obviously 

 intermediate between the Families Vultiiridse and Falconidm, and the 

 opinion of systematists has from time to time varied as to its 

 proper position ; but as this ought to depend on the decision of 

 anatomists, who have not yet delivered their verdict, it must be 

 still left in doubt ; and there would be little advantage in recounting 

 how one author has referred it to the former group and another to 

 the latter, since nobody seems to have applied the only sure test — 

 that afforded by characters which are not superficial.^ It Avill 

 suffice to say that most writers have deemed its Vulturine affinity 

 the strongest (relying apparently on the form of the beak, which 

 can scarcely be said to be either Aquiline or Falconine), in spite of 

 its well-feathered head and tarsi. The whole length of the bird is 

 from 43 to 46 inches, of which, however, about 20 are due to the 

 long cuneiform tail, while the pointed wings measure more than 30 

 inches from the carpal joint to the tip. The coloration of the 

 plumage is very peculiar ; the top of the head is w'hite, bounded by 

 black, which, beginning in stiff bristly feathers turned forwards 

 over the base of the beak, proceeds on either side of the face in a 

 w^ell-defined band to the eye, where it bifurcates into two narrow 

 stripes, of which the upper one passes above and beyond that 

 feature till just in front of the scalp it suddenly turns upwards 

 across the head and meets the corresponding stripe from the 

 opposite side, enclosing the white forehead already mentioned, 

 while the lower stripe extends beneath the eye about as far back- 

 wards and then suddenly stops. A tuft of 

 black, bristly feathers projects beardlike from 

 the base of the mandible, and gives the bird 

 one of its commonest epithets in many lan- 

 guages, as Avell as an appearance almost unique lammergeyer. 

 among the Avhole Class Aves. The rest of the (^^er swainson.) 

 head, the neck, throat, and lower parts generally are clothed with 

 lanceolate feathers of a pale tawny colour — sometimes so pale 

 as to be nearly white beneath ; "^ while the scapulars, back, and 



St.-Gall. naturw. Gesellschaft, 1869-70, pp. 147-244). The last killed, by poison, 

 •was near Viege in the Canton Valais in February 1S86, since when very few have 

 been seen, but it is possible that it may yet exist in the Haute Engadine. See 

 the mournful but interesting account by MM. Fatio and Studer, CatJ,Ois. de la 

 Suisse, pp. 25-46 (Geneve : 1889), and their more recent Cat. distrib. Ois. de la 

 Suisse, p. 7 (Geneve : 1892). 



^ Prof. Huxley's labours \mfortunately were not directed to this particular 

 point, and therefore throw little or no light on it. He puts the Vulturidae and 

 Falconidm together under the name of Gypactidas, very properly separating from 

 them the American Vultures as Cathartidse, of which the right name is 

 Sarcorhamplddx. 



- Meves {Ofvcrs. Vet. Ahad. Forhandl. 1860, p. 487) asserts that in some 

 cases, as proved by chemical tests, the red colouring is due to a superficial deposit 



