162 VULTUKIDJ3. 



corner of the cliff, followed closely by two others. ' Quebranta- 

 huesos ! ' called out Juan ; but I saw at once that they were Golden 

 Eagles, and so did the goatherd, who shouted, with an oath, 



* Son aquilas negras ! ' and ran down to his flocks, making all the 

 noise he could to scare the Eagles away, who passed us within 

 easy shot, going down the ravine, and then doubled back as if 

 intent on a kid or a lamb. Two of these Eagles were fully adult, 

 the other had white on the base of the tail, probably the young of 

 the preceding year. I was struck with their laboured napping 

 flight, compared with the easy gliding, and apparently effortless, 

 motions of the Bearded Vulture. 



" On the 30th we went to inspect the nest of the 18th, and 

 from the valley below the rocks I could, with my glasses, see 

 the tail and ends of wings of the old bird as she sat on the nest, 

 but could not see her head, which was directed to the back of the 

 cave. We then inspected two old nests one was in a hole in 

 detached stacks of sandstone rock, the other, in a round hole in a 

 low cleft very easy of access, was one of the nests harried by 



* El Principe.' 



" On the 31st Francisco arrived with ropes, and while Juan and 

 he were laying down the rope I seated myself on a projecting 

 rock level with the cave and about thirty yards from it. From 

 this I could look into the hole and see part of the nest and the 

 bill of the sitting bird. On a steep slope of debris fallen from the 

 cliff above, and which reached to within ten yards from the cave, 

 a large flock of goats, attended by a boy, were pasturing. The 

 noise made by the goats or the cries of the goatherd attracted 

 the attention of the Vulture, who occasionally stretched her head 

 out of the cave to see what was going on below, but she did not 

 appear to be the least alarmed ; presently some stones, displaced 

 by the rope above, came whistling down, and the bird, looking out 

 again, caught sight of me for the first time. She hesitated for a 

 moment, then launched heavily out of the nest, and, after one. or 

 two heavy flaps, sailed steadily away round an angle of the cliff; 



