LAMMERGEIER 431 



Africa and Abyssinia, southern Europe, and south-western Asia from Spain to 

 the Sea of Aral, Persia, and the Himalaya. Nesting in a few localities in Bavaria, 

 the Tyrol, and Carinthia, it is much more frequent in Switzerland. In a short 

 time after its arrival, it may be seen in bad weather hovering above swamps and 

 waters in pursuit of low-flying insects, but later on, when insects frequenting 

 higher levels of the atmosphere are abroad, it is found only in the mountains. 

 On the ground it is even more awkward than the common swift, and has the same 

 difficulty in starting to fly. At nesting-time the males quarrel so furiously that 

 their claws get entangled and they fall to the ground, where they are also often 

 captured when benumbed with cold. The nest, a shallow dish-like structure, is 

 generally placed at a considerable height, and consists of leaves, feathers, and 

 other materials collected in the air and stuck together with saliva. In the 

 beginning of June it contains two or three, rarely four, eggs, but there are never- 

 more than three young, which are fed by the old ones with insects. The fledglings 

 trust at once to the strength of their wings, but are lost should they fall to the 

 ground on their first attempt at flight. The Alpine swift is 8 inches long ; in 

 colour it is dark greyish brown, the throat and under surface being white with 

 a brown bar across the breast. 



The largest of the Alpine birds-of-prey is the lammergeier 

 (Gypaetus barbatus), which although frequently classed with the 

 vultures is broadly distinguished by its completely feathered head. Now driven 

 from many of its former haunts, this splendid bird is essentially a dweller in 

 the mountains, although in Spain and Greece it prefers the regions of moderate 

 altitude to the highest peaks, and even occasionally visits the plains at the foot 

 of steep rocky ravines. In the German and Austrian Alps the lammergeier is 

 exterminated, although it still lingers in a few districts of Switzerland. 

 Equally scarce in the Apennines and Dalmatia, it is still common in the Sardinian 

 anil Spanish mountains, as well as in Transylvania, the Balkans, the Caucasus, 

 and the higher ranges of central Asia, such as the Himalaya, Tian-Shan, and 

 the chains westward of Peking. Closely allied is the bare-legged lammergeier 

 (G. ossifragus) of the Atlas, the mountains bordering the Bed Sea, and the 

 Abyssinian Highlands, which differs by its smaller size, and white cheeks, as well 

 as in other particulars. It is said to be a weak cowardly bird of small intelligence 

 which wanders about market-places, and camps with other carrion-eating species, 

 now and then killing a weakly animal. The lammergeier of the Alps is much bolder, 

 and is reported to kill chamois and carry off children, although many of these 

 accounts of its former depredations are doubtless much exaggerated. Considering 

 that but few remains of slaughtered animals fall in its way, the Alpine lammer- 

 geier is quite likely to be more audacious, especially when driven by hunger, than 

 its southern relative ; and even more so than many eagles. In Spain and Greece 

 it is regarded as a harmless bird, feeding on carcases, bones, tortoises, and small 

 mammals. Tortoises and bones are carried to a considerable height, and dropped 

 on a rock ; bones of the size of a man's fist, especially those with marrow, even if 

 splintered, being swallowed and digested without difficulty. 



The lammergeier searches every portion of its hunting-ground regularly every 

 day. When anything attracts its attention, it flies in spiral curves above and 



