THE LAMMERGEYER. S99 
prey, and sometimes ; eaches five feet in length. Its spread of wing 
generally measures nine or ten feet. Sometimes these limits are 
exceeded, for one was killed during the French expedition to Egypt, 
in the presence of Monge and Bertholet, which measured upwards 
of fourteen feet. 
The Limmergeyer is endowed with wonderful strength of body and 
eowers of flight ; it is not therefore surprising that it attacks animals 
of considerable size, such as calves, lambs, deer, chamois, &c., and 
that it succeeds in overpowering them. Like the Eagle, it is reported 
to perpetrate the following ruse, one almost telling of reasoning 
powers. Waiting until its victim stands isolated on the edge of a 
precipice, it flies suddenly against the poor creature, beats it with its 
wings, and forces it to fall over into the abyss below, where it 
descends to feed on the mangled carcase. 
It has been asserted that it sometimes ventures to employ this 
manceuvre against the chamois-hunter, to make him lose his equi- 
librium in difficult passes. But in spite of all the wonderful stories 
told, it cannot be admitted that it is capable of carrying off lambs or 
children, for the weakness of its claws will not support a prey of 
weight ; it is therefore obliged to rend its victims in pieces, and 
devour them where killed. 
Although it cannot carry off children, it is nevertheless true that 
it sometimes attacks them, as the two following facts will prove. 
In 1819 two children were devoured by Lammergeyers in the 
environs of Saxe-Gotha, which induced the Government to set a price 
on the heads of these birds. M. Crespon, in his “ Ornithologie du 
Gard,” relates the second fact :— 
‘“‘For many years,” says he, “I was in possession of a living 
Griffon which exhibited no very great courage towards some other 
large birds of prey which were kept with it, but it was different as 
regarded children, upon whom it attempted to spring, spreading out 
its wings as if it wished to strike them. Latterly, I let this bird run 
about free in my garden. \Vatching for a moment when no one saw 
it, it darted upon one of my nieces, two years and a half old, and, 
having seized her by the top of her shoulders, threw her down to the 
ground. Fortunately her cries warned us of the danger she was in, 
and I hastened to her rescue, and found that the child had suffered 
no other injury but fright and the tearing of her dress.” 
This bird shows great Courage in defence of its offspring. Joseph 
Scherrer, a chamois-hunter, having first killed the male parent, 
climbed to an aerie to obtain the young, and had to engage in such a 
furious encounter with the female that it was with immense difficulty 
