158 VULTUEID.E. 



habits are those of a Neophron, and the stories of their taking 

 live prey are doubtless erroneous and applicable to Eagles. 



The following notes on the Bearded Vulture in Andalucia, as 

 observed by Mr. Stark some ten years ago, have been kindly sent 

 me by Lord Lilford, and are here given almost verbatim, omitting 

 of course the names of localities : 



" In Andalucia is decidedly common in the Sierra Nevada, the 

 Alpujarras, and all the region between Granada and Jaen. In a 

 day's ride five or six may be seen flying over the hill-sides or 

 gliding along the face of a cliff or down some ravine. 



" In certain districts of the Sierra Nevada, where the Griffon 

 does not intrude, the Qnebrantahuesos is especially numerous, and 

 the goatherds and shepherds, who look upon these birds as 

 perfectly harmless as far as live kids and lambs are concerned, 

 seldom molest them. They are therefore far from shy, and may 

 generally be seen hunting round the outskirts of some village or 

 farm, on the look-out for bones, offal, ordure, both of man and 

 beast, or for soft materials to line their nests. 



" In the Honda mountains they are fairly numerous, becoming 

 scarcer towards Gibraltar and Tarifa. 



" On the 4th of February, 1876, I found my first nest of the 

 Bearded Vulture in a low cliff in the Sierra Nevada. We had 

 for several days previously seen one or two of the birds flying 

 over the steep hill-side above the village, and, suspecting that 

 they had a nest, watched them carefully and explored many cliffs 

 and rocks without effect. However, on the morning of the 4th, 

 as I was sitting, with an old cazador named Juan, on the edge of 

 a low and broken cliff, not more than sixty feet high, a Bearded 

 Vulture came gliding along below us and suddenly disappeared. 

 Climbing down, we walked along the base of the rocks and finally 

 stood below a narrow horizontal slit in the cliff, not more than 

 fifteen feet above us, and Juan now asserted that the Quebranta- 

 huesos had entered this hole. We shouted and threw in stones 

 for some time without result, but at last a larger stone than usual 



