LAMMERGE VER 501 
In some external characters the Limmergeyer is obviously 
intermediate between the Families Vulturidx and Falconidx, and the 
opinion of systematists has from time to time varied as to its 
proper position ; but as this ought to depend on the decision of 
anatomists, who have not yet delivered their verdict, it must be 
still left in doubt ; and there would be little advantage in recounting 
how one author has referred it to the former group and another to 
the latter, since nobody seems to have applied the only sure test— 
that afforded by characters which are not superficial! It will 
suffice to say that most writers have deemed its Vulturine affinity 
the strongest (relying apparently on the form of the beak, which 
can scarcely be said to be either Aquiline or Falconine), in spite of 
its well-feathered head and tarsi. The whole length of the bird is 
from 43 to 46 inches, of which, however, about 20 are due to the 
long cuneiform tail, while the pointed wings measure more than 30 
inches from the carpal joint to the tip. The coloration of the 
plumage is very peculiar ; the top of the head is white, bounded by 
black, which, beginning in stiff bristly feathers turned forwards 
over the base of the beak, proceeds on either side of the face in a 
well-defined band to the eye, where it bifurcates into two narrow 
stripes, of which the upper one passes above and beyond that 
feature till just in front of the scalp it suddenly turns upwards 
across the head and meets the corresponding stripe from the 
opposite side, enclosing the white forehead already mentioned, 
while the lower stripe extends beneath the eye about as far back- 
wards and then suddenly stops. A tuft of = 
black, bristly feathers projects beardlike from 
the base of the mandible, and gives the bird 
one of its commonest epithets in many lan- 
guages, as well as an appearance almost unique LiMMERGEYER, 
among the whole Class Aves. The rest of the (After Swainson.) 
head, the neck, throat, and lower parts generally are clothed with 
lanceolate feathers of a pale tawny colour—sometimes so pale 
as to be nearly white beneath ;? while the scapulars, back, and 
St.-Gall. naturw. Gesellschaft, 1869-70, pp. 147-244). The last killed, by poison, 
was near Viege in the Canton Valais in February 1886, since when very few have 
been seen, but it is possible that it may yet exist in the Haute Engadine. See 
the mournful but interesting account by MM. Fatio and Studer, Cat. Ois. de la 
Suisse, pp. 25-46 (Geneve: 1889), and their more recent Cat. distrib. Ois. de la 
Suisse, p. 7 (Geneve: 1892). 
1 Prof. Huxley’s labours unfortunately were not directed to this particular 
point, and therefore throw little or no light on it. He puts the Vulturide and 
Falconidex together under the name of Gypaetide, very properly separating from 
them the American VuLturEs as Cathartidw, of which the right name is 
Sarcorhamphide. 
2 Meves (Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Férhandl. 1860, p. 487) asserts that in some 
cases, as proved by chemical tests, the red colouring is due to a superficial deposit 
