466 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



projections about a hundred yards off, and there quietly awaited 

 the moment of our departure, when they doubtless continued 

 their meal. 



In the wooded spurs of the Sierra Guadarrama I had also 

 an opportunity of observing the Griffon Vulture in an 

 interesting locality. Crossing the aforesaid barren ridge 

 above the Escorial, one reaches a wooded mountain district, 

 the character of which quite recalls certain portions of the 

 Bohemian or Saxon Switzerland, and in no other part of Spain 

 have I found a mountain formation like that of these ranges, 

 which rise gradually from the plain of Avila towards the 

 desolate loftier regions of the Sierra Guadarrama, and are 

 covered with fir-woods and decked with isolated little patches 

 of cultivation. Wooded hills of this sort cannot be a perma- 

 nent resort of the Griffon Vultures, but in order to reach 

 from their true dwelling-places the plains which furnish them 

 with their booty they must cross them; and so even there 

 one may in the afternoon see many vultures flying one after 

 another at a great height, and all pursuing the same direction 

 towards the high mountains. 



Among the wooded summits of these charmingly beautiful 

 outlying hills rises a sharp rocky pinnacle with bare pre- 

 cipitous sides, and at its base there is a steep slope of loose 

 stones, some large masses of rock, and a few old firs. It 

 is known as the Pena Blanca, and is a most remarkable 

 point, which serves as a rendezvous and resting-place for 

 many of the large birds of prey. In two adjacent clefts of 

 the rock a pair of Egyptian Vultures and a couple of Pere- 

 grines were also dwelling, while in an old fir-tree close under 

 it I found the nest of a Pygmy Eagle, while the cliffs were 

 quite whitewashed with the droppings of the vultures. 



On one face of this rock the herdsmen showed me a niche 

 which is said to have served as the roosting-place of two 

 Bearded Vultures for years; and on another were the clefts, 



