86 



tain and on inaccessible ledges of the highest rock walls. These 

 eyries may often be discerned fi-om considerable distances, and 

 are well known to dwellers in the mountains, though they are 

 for the most part unapproachable and beyond the reach even 

 of musket-balls. Their construction is simple but very inge- 

 nious ; the sub-stratum is formed of a mass of straw, fem, and 

 stalks, laid crossways one upon another. The nest, which rests 

 upon this imder-layer, is composed of branches woven into the 

 shape of a wreath and lined with down and moss, and the con- 

 tents of this part alone would fill the largest hay-cloth. Very 

 early in the year the female lays three or fom- wliite eggs 

 spotted with brown, of which only two are generally hatched." 

 The brown spots upon the egg of the Leemmer-Geyer alluded to 

 in the above passage are of a rufous or ferruginous tint, and 

 the white ground of the egg is often tinged with a similar hue ; 

 but this varies much in different specimens, as does also the 

 number and intensity of the ferruginous spots. 



The iris in this species is a light yellow, but the sclerotic 

 coat which is visible as a second ring, exterior to that of the 

 iris, is of a vivid orange red. The feet are of dark flesh coloiu-, 

 slightly tinged with purple. 



Several flgiu-es have been published of the Bearded Gypaete 

 in its adult plumage ; the most characteristic of those with 

 which I am acquainted is in Gray's " Genera of Birds," pi. 1. 

 The immature bird is figured in Meyer and Wolf, pi. 1 ; but I 

 give this latter reference on the authority of " Strickland's 

 Synonyms," not having been able personally to verify it. 



The egg is represented in Baedeker's work on " Eui'opean 

 Oology," pi. 9, fig. 3. 



