2014 THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



partition, and the feathers are furnished with aftershafts. The true vultures, to- 

 gether with the lemmergeiers, are restricted to the warmer regions of the Old 

 World, where they are almost universally distributed, although absent from the 

 Malayan Islands, Ceylon, Madagascar, and Australia. 



The magnificent bird known as the lammergeier, or bearded vulture 

 ( Gypaetus barbatus) , is the typical representative of a genus in regard 

 to the systematic position of which there has been some difference of opinion among 

 ornithologists. It differs from the true vultures in having the head covered with 

 feathers, instead of being naked or downy, and thereby approaches the eagles, 

 among which it is placed by Dr. Sharpe. Its general affinities, as remarked by Mr. 

 Dresser, are, however, decidedly with the vultures, among which we accordingly 

 place it. In addition to having the head fully feathered, the lammergeiers are char- 

 acterized by having the oval nostrils concealed by a number of stiff bristles, and 

 also by the presence of a tuft, or long beard of forwardly directed bristles. The 

 long and compressed beak ascends in front of the cere, and then curves, with its 

 tip much hooked. The wings are long, with the first quill rather longer than 

 the second, and the third the longest; while the tail is also long, and distinctly 

 wedge shaped. The true lammergeier, which ranges from the mountains of South- 

 ern Europe and Northeastern Africa through Asia Minor and Palestine, and thence 

 to the Himalayas, Central Asia, and the north of China, is distinguished by the 

 metatarsus being feathered down to the toes, and the presence of black markings on 

 the cheeks, and commonly attains a length of about forty-two inches. On the other 

 hand, the somewhat smaller bare-legged lammergeier, from the mountainous districts, 

 of Northeast and South Africa, has the lower part of the metatarsus naked, and the 

 sides of the cheeks entirely white. In the adult of the common species, the crown 

 of the head and sides of the face are white, with the bristles over the nostrils and a 

 broad cheek stripe, as well as some scattered streaks, black; the rest of the head and 

 nape being whitish, with the lanceolate feathers of the latter more or less tinged 

 with bright tawny. The upper parts are black, tending to brown on the rump, and 

 a tinge of ochre brown on the scapulars, with all the shafts of the back feathers 

 whitish, as are those of the wing coverts, wings, and tail. Beneath, the general 

 color is a rich orange tawny, not unfrequently with a black gorget on the chest. 

 The beak is horn color, and the feet leaden gray; while the iris of the eye is pale 

 orange, and the surrounding sclerotic membrane or "white," a blood color, thus 

 producing, with the black pupil, a most remarkable appearance. In the young bird, 

 as shown in the upper figure of our illustration on the next page, the head, neck, 

 and throat are blackish brown, and the rest of the body plumage pale brown, with 

 the exception of some creamy-white patches on the upper part of the back. The 

 female is somewhat larger than the male, and the expanse of wing often exceeds 

 nine feet. Indian examples are those which commonly show the black gorget on 

 the chest. 



The lammergeier is essentially a mountain bird, and, in spite of numerous 

 stories to the contrary, appears to subsist mainly on animals not killed by itself and 

 carrion, although it may occasionally attack and kill some of the smaller animals; 

 such at least are undoubtedly its habits in the Himalayas. When on the wing, the 



