2oi6 THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



exterminated, the last Swiss specimen having been found poisoned in the winter of 

 1887. This was a female which had been known to haunt the Bietsch Horn for 

 some twenty-five years previously, its mate having been killed in 1862. It is stated, 

 however, that a single bird was seen in Switzerland in 1888. In the Italian Alps 

 the lammergeier is still met with, while in Spain and the Caucasus it is abundant. 

 In the Himalayas these splendid birds may be seen in numbers during the spring in 

 the outer ranges, especially in the neighborhood of the hill station of Mari, but in 

 the summer they migrate northward to Kashmir, Baltistan, Ladakh, etc. Usually a 

 shy bird, in the neighborhood of Abbotabad the lammergeiers became quite accus- 

 tomed to the shooting on a rifle range, and would approach close to the men. 

 When driven down by cold and bad weather they will often collect in numbers 

 round the military hill camps to feed on the offal. Circumstantial stories of attacks 

 by Alpine lammergeiers on children will be found in many works; but, as Mr. H. 

 Saunders remarks, those who have examined the weak feet of those birds will form 

 their own opinion as to their credibility. With regard to their alleged depredations 

 on flocks, an anonymous observer writes in the Asian that " I never heard of the 

 Himalayan lammergeier attacking anything, and in Kashmir have often watched 

 them passing over flocks of goats, on one occasion close over some female ibex with 

 kids. Also in Dagshai I frequently observed them sail round within a few yards of 

 fowls and tame pigeons, but never saw them attempt a raid on any living thing, 

 always contenting themselves with bones thrown out after the soldiers' dinners, or 

 with offal from the slaughterhouses. ' ' Mr. R. Thompson also had a similar experi- 

 ence in the Himalayas, mentioning, that although these birds never molested the 

 fowls and pigeons picketed as lures for hawks, they would always come down to a 

 carcass or a heap of bones. The lammergeier seems indeed to be specially partial to 

 bones, which it will sometimes drop from a great height on to rocks in order to smash 

 them; while in Algeria it is stated to do the same with tortoises. In Spain these 

 birds are commonly known by the name of bone smasher, and there is little doubt 

 that the " ossif rage " of Scripture refers to this bird. All these traits of character 

 strongly confirm the view that the lammergeier is a vulture rather than an eagle, 

 and Mr. Hume considers that its general habits and gait, more especially its manner 

 of walking and holding its tail when feeding on the ground, ally it to the scavenger 

 vultures. In the Himalayas the lammergeier breeds from November to February, 

 selecting almost inaccessible ledges for the construction of its nest, at elevations of 

 five thousand feet and upward. Mr. Thompson states that ' ' the nest a huge plat- 

 form, some four or five feet in diameter, is constructed of small sticks and thick 

 twigs, placed so as to form a footing for the young, and is lined with pieces of cloth, 

 rags, etc." There is usually, both in the Himalayas and the Atlas, but a single 

 egg to a nest, although, rarely, a pair may be met with. The eggs are oval, and 

 rather small for the size of the bird, with their external surface dull and chalky, of 

 a buff ground color, often clouded with darker markings. The young bird has been 

 known to remain in the nest for upward of four months. 



The typical representative of the true vultures, and the only living member of 

 its genus, is the common cinereous or black vulture ( Vultur monachus] , of which 

 figures are given in the accompanying plate, which differs from all other members 



