THE HOME OF THE LAMMERGEYER. 309 



It was almost the first bird seen in the Sierra Bermeja, 

 where a superb adult passed slowly along our line, carry- 

 ing what ai)peared to be a live snake in his claws, some 

 four feet of writhing reptile dangling beneath. The 

 Lammergeyer, by the way, like the eagle, carries every- 

 thing in its claws, not in the beak. We were rather sur- 

 prised at seeing this bird here, the local hunters having 

 specially assured us that only " aguilas reales " bred in 

 that sierra. This name, however, proved to be that Itcre 

 applied to the Lammergeyer ; its proper recipient, the 

 Golden Eagle (a pair of which were nesting in a crag not 

 far off) being known as " aguila negra." 



Vultures, it may be mentioned, were chiefly remarkable 

 by their absence in these mountains — one only saw a 

 solitary Griffon at long intervals, and in that barren 

 rocky -mountain region (afterwards mentioned), in which 

 we found the Lammergeyer most numerous, vultures were 

 seldom seen. Yet Bniteras, " Griffonries," so to speak, 

 existed at certain intervals, say, six or eight leagues apart, 

 throughout the whole of those sierras. 



This pair of Lammergeyers, which we enjoyed watching 

 during some days, soon disclosed to us both the position 

 of their present abode and also that of a former yeai", 

 entering the latter crag almost as often as the then 

 tenanted nursery. 



Perched, as we were, a thousand feet above, it was a 

 glorious ornithological spectacle to watch these grand birds 

 sailing to and fro unsuspicious and unconscious of our 

 presence, their lavender backs and outstretched pinions 

 gleaming like silver in the sunshine. Slowly the}' would 

 glide down the gorge till lost to sight around an angle ; 

 returning half an hour later, and passing beneath our 

 post, would circle for a minute or two round the rock- 

 stack. Not a motion of those rigid pinions till close to 

 the mouth of the eyrie, then the great wings closed, and 

 the bird disappeared within its cave. 



Both eyries were situate in similar positions — in abrupt 

 stacks of rock which protruded from the rugged mountain 

 slope, Init hotli quite low down, almost at the bottom of 



