273 NATURAL HISTORY. 



believed by him to be well authenticated, is related by Naumann as follows . " Anna Zurbuchen, 

 of Hatchern, in Bern Oberland, born in 1760, was taken out by her parents, when she was nearly 

 three years old, when they went to collect herbs. She fell asleep, and the father put his 

 straw hat over her face and went to his work. Shortly after, when he returned with a bundle 

 of hay, the child was gone; and the parents and peasants sought her in vain. During this time 

 Heinrich Michel, of Unterseen, was going on a wild path to Wappesbach, and suddenly heard a child 

 cry. He ran towards the sound, and a Bearded Vulture rose, scared by him, from a mound, and 

 soared away over the precipice. On the extreme edge of the latter, below which a stream roared, 

 and over whose edge any moment would have precipitated it, Michel found the child, which was 

 uninjured, except on the left arm and hand, where the bird had probably clutched it ; its shoes? 

 stockings, and cap were gone. This occurred on the 12th of July, 1763. The place where the child 

 was found was about 1,400 paces distant from the tarn where it had been left asleep. The child 

 was afterwards called Ldmmeryeier-Anni, and married Peter Frutiger, a tailor in Gewaldswyl, where 

 she was still living in 1814." 



The circumstantial way in which the above narrative runs appears to leave little doubt of 

 its reality, but it is difficult to give it credence, as the Lammergeier has but little power in its feet, 

 which resemble those of the Vultures ; and most of the stories of its prowess have been discredited 

 by the researches of modern naturalists. Dr. Brehm observes : " To my intense astonishment, 

 the Spanish hunters did not regard this bird in the slightest degree as a bold, merciless robber : all 

 asserted that it fed on carrion, especially bones, only attacking living animals when driven by 

 necessity. They called it ' Quebranta-Huesos,' or the ' Bone-smasher,' and assured me that this 

 favourite food was broken in a singular manner. My later observations proved nothing which 

 would justify my treating their statements as otherwise than correct, so I was forced to come to the 

 conclusion that the Lammergeier had been much maligned. Since my first account of this bird, 

 I have read a number of communications from other observers, and gather from the whole that the 

 Bearded Vulture is nought else than a weak, cowardly bird of prey, gifted neither in mind nor body 

 to any great extent, and one that but rarely carries away small mammals. Its food usually consists of 

 bones and other carrion." 



Mr. Hudleston met with the Lammergeier in Greece, where, however, it was not common, 

 and he writes of its habits as observed by him : " He is not a demonstrative bird like the Griffon, 

 who may be seen sailing about at a great height in the air, sometimes alone, but more often in troops 

 of from half a dozen to fifty, revolving in endless circles round each other, that no corner may remain 

 unseen. The Lammergeier, on the contrary, may be observed floating slowly, at a uniform level, 

 close to the cliffs of some deep ravine, where his shadow is perhaps projected on the wall-like rocks. 

 If the ravine has salient and re-entering angles, he does not cut across from point to point, but 

 preserves the same distance from the cliff; and when he disappears in any natural fissure, you feel 

 sure of the very spot where he will emerge on turning the corner of the precipice. MaiTOW-bone.s 

 are the dainties he loves the best ; and when the other Vultiires have picked the flesh off any 

 animal, he comes in at the end of the feast and swallows the bones, or breaks them and swallows 

 the pieces, if he cannot get the marrow out otherwise. The bones he cracks by taking them to 

 a great height and letting them fall on a stone. This is probably the bird that dropped a Tortoise 

 on the bald head of poor old ^Eschylus. Not, however, that he restricts himself, or the huge black 

 infant that he and his mate are bringing up, in one of the many holes with which the limestone 

 precipice abounds, to marrow, tin-tie, bones, and similar delicacies : neither lamb, hare, nor kid 

 comes amiss to him though, his power of claw and beak being feeble for so large a bird, he cannot 

 tear his meat like other Vultures and Eagles. I once saw a mature bird of this species which had 

 evidently swallowed a bone, or something uncommonly indigestible, close to the abattoir at Athens. 

 He was in a very uncomfortable attitude, and appeared to be leaning on his long tail for support. 

 After riding round in gradually decreasing circles till within ten yards, I dropped off horseback and 

 made a rush at him, but he just managed to escape, and then rising slowly till about the height of 

 the Acropolis, made off towards the gorge of Phylse, where there is an eyry. 



" The Lammergeier has an extremely ugly countenance ; this becomes perfectly diabolical when 

 lie is irritated, and shows the bright red round his eyes. Altogether, what with his black beard, rufous 



