152 SUMMER 



ancestors' skill. Vultures are among the finest of all fliers ; 

 but an interesting account of the difficulty with which a 

 young adopted vulture learnt the art was contributed to a 

 French journal by the late Captain Ferber, who was himself 

 killed while flying. It is worth quoting at some length, as 

 one of the best of the observations on this subject, con- 

 ducted by men with 

 a personal acquaint- 

 ance with the pro- 

 blem : ' Some time 

 ago my friend, Cap- 

 tain Detroyat, wrote 

 to me : "My brother- 

 in-law, M. Sala, and 

 myself have just suc- 

 ceeded in catching a 

 young vulture in the 

 Pyrenees. He is less 

 than six months old, 

 and the spread of his 

 wings is already 2*2 

 metres. But he is 

 quite unable to fly, 

 and he is not even 

 come to the point of 

 progressing by flighty jumps. What shall we do ? Shall we 

 tie a string round his neck, and train him on Archdeacon's 

 principle by towing from a motor-boat, or shall we push him 

 into the air from the ' pylon ' of the Aero Club ? " I 

 replied (says Captain Ferber) as follows : " The case is a 

 most interesting one, and I should imagine that what is the 

 matter with the bird is that he has not had an opportunity 

 of being taught by his parents. You be his father and 



ALPINE CHOUGHS 



