FROM SPAIN. 459 
Vulture had already plunged into its hole. Again I saw the 
long tail protruding, and again it was only after repeated 
shouts that it turned itself round. The first shot brought it 
down the cliff, but, extending its wings, it recovered its 
balance and flew towards the valley in an opposite direction 
to that taken by the first bird. The second shot broke one of 
its legs, which hung down, and over an olive-yard, a few 
hundred paces from us, its wings suddenly drooped and it 
fell to the ground like a stone. 
Hurrying down the slope I found my splendid booty 
already surrounded by the herdsmen, and, laden with the two 
Bearded Vultures, we now returned to the hacienda. I was 
thus lucky enough to bag a paired couple of these rare, beau- 
tiful, and very interesting birds of prey in less than half an 
hour. 
The same afternoon we again clambered to the same place, 
and sent some hunters and herdsmen up the cliff to take the 
nest. A peasant from the neighbourhood of the hacienda, who 
climbs for nests every year, undertook to descend the dangerous 
and very difficult cliff by a rope-ladder and to bring down 
the young bird in a basket. We waited under the rock 
to have the materials of the nest thrown out to us, and a bit 
of goatskin, some feathers, old bones, and mouldy remains of 
plants came down in this fashion. The nest of this bird is 
very carelessly constructed, or, to speak more accurately, 
there is no regular nest, and the young one sits on the bare 
rock simply surrounded by the feathers and remnants of food 
which happen to collect in the course of its existence. 
The plucky Spaniard had a great deal of difficulty in taking 
out the young Bearded Vulture, for the hole went back a long 
way and the bird retreated into it; but he at last managed to 
get it into the basket, and it passed from its rocky castle 
into our possession. It was already quite large and strong, 
and its plumage was in the transition-stage between down 
