442 The Bearded Vulture 
surroundings of the young bird. Besides the mass of sticks, small 
boughs and branches of dried heath which formed the nest there 
were several short fragments of old rope and a perfect Golgotha of 
remains of animals. Within six inches of the beak of the bird was 
a calf's foot severed above the fetlock and hard by it a donkey's 
foot and fetlock joint whilst all around were many portions of the 
legs of sheep and goats of various lengths. The whole external 
nest was littered with the horny sheathings of goats’ and sheeps’ 
feet, many of considerable antiquity. One limb of a big goat was 
particularly interesting as showing the manners and customs of 
these birds. [It was a portion of a hind leg with hoof intact and 
with the femur broken and splintered about half way up. The 
skin had been neatly turned back below the hock and the bone 
picked clean. Curiously there was no appreciable smell in the 
nest, the gruesome remains being either quite fresh, as in the 
case of the donkey’s foot, or dried up. 
Having thus satisfied my curiosity to the full and made notes 
of all I saw, I set to work to photograph the place. Here I was 
met by an unexpected difficulty for, setting aside the short distance 
available, the roof was so low that I could with difficulty look into 
the finder. Also, wherever | crouched, either my feet or knees 
obtruded themselves into the picture! I soon realized that it was 
only possible to photograph the nest and young bird from one side, 
namely, where I was doubled up. By good fortune in one corner 
of the cavern there was a small fissure leading into the heart of 
the rock and by means of squeezing my feet into this and otherwise 
packing myself into the smallest possible space, I was able to get 
my camera to work. 
I have had many curious experiences in photographing birds’ 
nests but this was one of the most perplexing of the many awkward 
situations I have ever been in. On my right, between me and the 
edge of the cliff, was a sloping shelf of rock from the very back of 
