BIRDS OF PREY. 



Sub-Family /. 

 THE BEARDED VULTURES. GYPAETIN.-E.- 



General Characteristics. — Head and neck completely clothed ^vith feathers; 

 cere of the base of the upper mandible entirely hidden by projecting bristles. 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Bearded Vultiore {Gypaetos\ barbatiis), well known on the continent 

 of Europe as the Lammer Geyer, or Lamb Vulture, is the largest of the birds 



Fig. 8. — The Lam.mer Geyek {Cypaetos barbatiis). 



of prey found in the Eastern hemisphere. Its usual mode of killing the ani- 

 mals that constitute its food is to drive them over the edge of some precipitous 

 cliff, and devour their remains when shattered by the fall : hence it was known 



* It will be observ'ed, that while the families of birds are designated by the Greek 

 patronymic idcv, the .sub-families are distinguished by the diminutive imr. 

 t y^"^} g>TS> <^ •culture J atTbs, aetos, an eagle : eagle-vulture. 



