158 BIRDS' NESTS 



on precipices, and constructs a huge nest (the largest 

 structures being the accumulation of many years) of 

 sticks, branches, twigs, lined with dry grass, leaves, 

 and dead palmettoes. Some of these nests are very 

 well finished, the bowl being fifteen inches or more 

 across and four or five inches deep. Then the nest 

 of the Old World Black Vulture {Vultur monachus) is 

 made on the spreading summit of some lofty giant 

 pine tree, and consists of an enormous platform of 

 sticks often eight feet in diameter, the depression 

 in the centre being lined with tufts of fine grasses 

 plucked from the ground below. Such a nest, after 

 it has once been reached, would admit of a man 

 standing in safety upon it. Another similarly 

 enormous nest is made by the Bearded Vulture or 

 Lammergeyer {Gypaetiis barhatus), a species breeding 

 in various mountain ranges in the south of Europe 

 and Asia. This nest is built upon inaccessible ledges 

 of cliffs, and is formed of sticks and branches, and 

 lined with grass, wool, hair, and similar materials. 

 Then, again, the Eagles are elaborate nest-builders, 

 constructing their eyries on cliffs and trees, or even 

 on the ground, and tenanting them for years in suc- 

 cession. They are made on much the same general 

 plan as the preceding, being huge piles of sticks, 

 somewhat flat, and several feet in diameter. One of 

 their peculiarities is the presence of green leaves in 

 the lining, which in addition consists of coarse grass, 

 wool, turf, and so forth. Possibly the typical Eagles 



