404 The Griffon Vulture 
the direction of the sun and the impossibility of my shifting my 
position on the narrow ledge I occupied, the photograph, although 
of considerable interest, is not sufficiently defined for reproduction 
here. Eventually the Vulture took wing, but so long as | remained 
in the vicinity she sailed round the cliff at times passing close to 
me with a mighty swish of wings in a most threatening manner. 
At intervals she would alight on some pinnacle crag within 30 
yards of me and recommence hissing. Here, owing again to the 
position of the sun, I utterly failed to photograph her although | 
tried many times. 
I tell this story at length because in all my long experiences 
of Eagles and Vultures I have known no other bird come so near 
to threatening a man as this. 
Had this pugnacious Vulture but been aware of her own strength 
and of the weakness of my position on the narrow stratum of rock, 
she could of course easily have dislodged me. But I am well 
assured nothing would have induced her to approach me any 
nearer than she did. I can only account for her pugnacity by 
the fact that her stronghold was in a very remote sierra and 
in a position where she had probably never been approached 
save by some lad tending goats who would likely enough have 
been deterred by her threatening demeanour. | had not the heart 
to take that egg and was pleased to see her return to it as | 
ascended the cliff. 
Again, only once have I seen or heard of a Griffon attack- 
ing a man and that was in the case of a wounded bird and 
hence cannot fairly be reckoned as a genuine example. It was 
at the time I was engaged in obtaining some Vultures for the 
British Museum. I had shot an old female from the top of a 
cliff as she left her nest and she fell into the scrub below. 
Upon going round to the foot of the cliff to pick her up, when 
forcing my way through the cistus and giant heath, | suddenly 
