6 BRITISH BIRDS. 



ther, it never occurs to you to think of them as a flock of Vultures, they 

 are scattered so wide over the landscape. 



In their breeding-habits Griffon Vultures are undoubtedly gregarious,, 

 though even then it may possibly be the nesting-sites which are gregarious 

 rather than their occupants. They choose a perpendicular or overhanging 

 limestone cliff in which hollows or caves rather than ledges are found 

 at a considerable height from the ground, and generally inaccessible 

 without a rope. They are said usually to build a great nest made of 

 sticks, very rough on the outside, but more or less carefully smoothed 

 and hollowed out in the middle, and lined with sheep's wool, goat's hair, 

 dry grass, leaves, and any thing they can pick up. My Greek servant, 

 however, assured me that he had frequently taken the eggs from a cavern 

 where no nest was attempted ; but the Greeks are such inveterate liars 

 that I never knew when to believe him. The probable truth is, that 

 they are not much of nest-builders, and appropriate the old nest of an 

 Eagle or a Raven when they can. Where large nests not thus stolen are 

 found they will most likely be the accumulated pile of many years. 

 Both in Greece and Asia Minor I was too late for eggs, which can be 

 obtained fresh in February and sometimes even in January ; so I did not 

 inspect many of the Griffonries very closely, though several were pointed 

 out to me. The usual number of eggs is only one, though it is said that 

 two are occasionally found. The stench of the Griffonries is almost in- 

 supportable. The entrance to the cavern or cleft in the rock looks as if 

 pailfuls of whitewash had been emptied upon it; and the effluvia of 

 ammonia and putrefaction are overpowering to all but the most enthusiastic 

 oologist. One visit to the nest of a Vulture is sufficient to dispose for ever 

 of the theory that these birds hunt by scent, and are endowed with highly 

 sensitive olfactory nerves. The only condition in which the existence of 

 animal life seems possible in a Griffonry is in the case of beings absolutely 

 devoid of any sense of smell whatever. It is also said that concealed car- 

 casses are rarely if ever discovered by Vultures. Irby found at Gibraltar 

 that if the nest was robbed, a second egg was laid about six or seven weeks 

 later. They are sedentary birds, but appear less common in winter, as 

 they roam further from home when not employed upon the duties of 

 incubation. So far as is known, their only food is carrion. 



I am indebted to Captain Verner for the following graphic account of a 

 visit to a colony of Griffon Vultures in Southern Spain : " On March 14, 

 1878, I left Gibraltar with a friend, an officer of Artillery, with the 

 intention of visiting several nesting-stations of the Griffon Vulture in the 

 Sierras towards Cadiz. We reached the Lajadel Sicar about half-past ten. 

 This is a favourite nesting-place of Gyps fulvus, and is a triangular-shaped 

 cliff rising out of the broken ground east of the Laguna de la Janda. 

 Its general surface slopes back, so that the cliff is in most parts at an angle 



