60 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description, food, &c. 



beak to the extremity of its tail, and eight feet 

 and a half from tip to tip of its wings ; but some 

 have been shot that were much larger. The 

 beak is of a purplish flesh colour, hooked at the 

 point ; the head and neck are covered with fea- 

 thers; beneath the throat hangs a kind of beard, 

 composed of very narrow feathers, like hairs. 

 The body is of a blackish brown above; and the 

 tinder parts white, with a tinge of brown. The 

 legs are feathered quite to the toes, and the claws 

 are strong and black. 



These birds form their nests in the clefts of 

 rocks, inaccessible to man; and generally pro- 

 duce three or four young ones at a time. They 

 subsist for the most part on Alpine animals : such 

 as the chamois, white hares, kids, marmots, and 

 particularly lambs; from which last circumstance 

 they are called by the Swiss peasants lammer- 

 geyer, or lamb-vultures. They seldom appear 

 but in small parties, usually consisting of the two 

 old birds and their young. 



These rapacious animals, like the former spe- 

 cies, do not always confine their assaults to the 

 brute creation, but sometimes attack and carry 

 off young children : and Gessner informs us, on 

 respectable authority, that some peasants be- 

 tween the cities of Miesen and Brisa, in Germany, 

 losing every day some of their cattle, which they 

 sought for in the forests in vain, observe^ by 

 chance a very large nest resting on three oak*, 



