482 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



in the Sierra de Honda, nor of course among the flat sur- 

 roundings of Seville, or on the banks of the Guadalquivir. 



As I visited no part of Portugal except the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the capital, I can say nothing about its 

 occurrence in that country from my own observation ; while 

 in the large Royal Museum at Lisbon where the collections, 

 in pleasing contrast to all those of Spain, are quite up to the 

 mark of modern science every stuffed Bearded Vulture that 

 I saw came from the latter country. Prof. Barboza du Bocage, 

 the keeper of the museum, who is so well known to all orni- 

 thologists, also told me that it is one of the greatest rarities 

 in Portugal, having only been occasionally seen in the moun- 

 tainous parts of the country near the Spanish frontier, while 

 its nest has never been found. 



In the range of the Picos de Europa, in the north of 

 Spain, I discovered an abandoned nest situated on a lofty 

 precipice that rose from a high desolate mountain valley 

 clothed with luxuriant beech woods, and inhabited by bears 

 and izards (Spanish chamois). According to the informa- 

 tion that I received from the herdsmen, this nest had been 

 occupied the year before by a pair of Bearded Vultures; and 

 from what these men said I could easily see that they knew 

 how to distinguish this species from the other raptorial birds. 

 I inspected the nest, which was placed in a hole just like the 

 one that I had found in the Sierra Nevada. 



In the same mountains above Cobadonga, and not far from 

 the abandoned nest, I one morning saw a very dark-coloured 

 young bird not more than a year and a half old. It was with 

 a large flock of vultures that were circling round the last 

 remnants of a dead cow ; but it always kept rather higher up 

 than the Griffon Vultures, and when I approached it was the 

 first to go. On my proceeding to lay out a sheep as a bait 

 it appeared again with many of the other birds, circled con- 

 stantly round the carcass at a considerable height, and looked 



