398 The Griffon Vulture 
stations are far from being ideal spots, and the pungent smell of 
death and decay which pervades them is one of the minor trials 
the enthusiastic naturalist has to bear during the course of his 
studies. 
The egg is of considerable size and very globular in shape 
measuring about 4 in. by 3} in. The young when hatched out 
are lumps of white down with black bead-like eyes. They rapidly 
increase in size; when only two weeks old they weigh five pounds 
and their primary feathers begin to show, whilst the neck feathers 
which eventually form the ruff are distinctly visible. | When 
the climber suddenly comes across a young Griffon in the nest, 
no matter what size it may be, (Griffons remain in the nest for 
some months and until nearly full grown) it instantly simulates 
death by throwing itself flat with its head lying in a dislocated 
fashion on one side and remains motionless thus for some time. 
The illusion thus produced is often heightened by the local con- 
ditions. Thus when I came upon the young bird two weeks old 
figured on the last page, it was a stifling hot day in May. The 
sun's rays beat fiercely into the gully on the rocks surrounding 
the nest and there was not a breath of air. The young bird lay 
with its head on one side and with the nictitating membrane 
drawn over its eye, as shown in the picture, to all appearance 
dead. All about the dirty nest were swarms of brilliantly green 
“blue-bottles” which settled on and crawled about the young bird. 
What between the heat, the sickly effluvia of the place, and the 
stillness only broken by the buzzing of the carrion flies it was 
a complete counterfeit presentment of death. It was not until I 
had got out my camera and taken a couple of pictures of this most 
accomplished actor that it apparently came to the conclusion that it 
was about time to come to life again and vary the entertainment. 
I have seen young Griffons only a few hours after emerging 
from the egg adopt this means to avoid observation, and, as will 
