IV FALCONIDAE I5I 
membrane is crimson (p. 147). The young are chiefly brown and buff. 
From Portugal and Mauritania this species extends through the 
lofty mountains of South Europe to the Himalayas and North China, 
though practically exterminated in Switzerland and Carinthia ; 
Gi. ossifragus (meridionalis), with no black stripe below the eye, 
represents it in North-Eastern and Southern Africa. Avoid- 
ing its own kin, the Liimmergeier often breeds near Griffon 
Vultures ; the large nest of sticks, hned with wool and hair, begun 
very early in the year, being placed in some cavity of a cliff or 
on a precipitous ledge, and containing one egg—or rarely two— 
which appear pale orange owing to the confluent markings. The 
flight is majestic and powerful; the cry weak and querulous, with 
a croak when irritated. In parts of Spain and India, natives 
assert that this bird preys only on carcases; but in Macedonia it 
is said to carry off lambs, kids, and fowls, and no doubt occasion- 
ally it kills small mammals and_ birds, though all statements 
should be carefully criticised, as it usurps the name of “ Grifo” 
or Griffon in Spain, and that of Golden Eagle in India; while 
conversely any Eagle is pointed out in the Alps as a Lammergeier. 
It has been credited with a habit of scaring young animals over 
the cliffs by descending with a sudden rush, but its nature is 
cowardly, and it does not seem to attack man; yet marvellous 
tales have been told of its strength and daring, some of which may 
in part be true, though the evidence is hardly convincing. Like 
Neophron, it is said to carry bones up into the air, letting them 
fall to break them, while land-tortoises are similarly treated in 
North Africa, and possibly this species is responsible for the death 
of the poet Aschylus, on whose bare head a tortoise is alleged to 
have been dropped! Gypohierax angolensis, somewhat approach- 
ing the Vulturidae, is white, with the secondaries, most of the 
scapulars, the tips of the primaries, and the base of the tail 
black; the bare skin of the sides of the face and the feet are 
flesh-coloured, and the beak is grey-blue. Rare in East and South 
Africa, though common in the West, it is generally seen on 
lagoons, rivers, or sea-shores, sunning itself on some elevation, or 
skimming the water with laboured flight in search of fish. It will 
attack animals and eat garbage. 
Sub-fam. 2. Polyborinae-—Of the American “ Carrion Hawks,” 
Polyborus tharus is dull black, with whitish neck, back, breast, 
1 Salvin, Jbis, 1859, p. 177; Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. x. cap. 3. 
