THE LAMMERGEYER. 1D 
in Mexico, it is sometimes observed in flocks. The general account, — that 
the other vultures stand patiently by till their monarch has finished his 
repast, —and which appears to be not without foundation, may be easily 
accounted for by the superior strength and courage of this species. 
The Gypaétine, or Bearded Vultures, are comprehended in a single spe- 
cies, viz., the Gypaétus barbatus, often ealled the Laimmergeyer. 
This bird is found throughout the whole of the great mountain chains of 
the Old World. It occurs in the Pyrenees, and in the Alps of Germany 
and Switzerland, where it is notorious for its destructiveness among the lambs 
and kids which are fed on the green slopes of the lower ranges. The inter- 
mediate situation assigned to the Liimmergeyer, and which is aptly expressed 
in: the generic appellation Gypacétus, is clearly indicated in its form and 
general habits. Of a powerful and robust make, it has neither the bill nor 
the talons of the eagle, the former being elongated, and hooked only at the 
tip, and the latter comparatively small; yet it prefers to prey on victims 
which it has itself destroyed, or upon the flesh of animals recently slaugh- 
tered, and, unless hard pressed by hunger, rejects putrid carrion, the favorite 
repast of the vulture. The eagle bears off his prey ; the Liimmergeyer, unless 
disturbed, or providing for its young, seldom attempts to remove it, but 
devours it on the spot. Attracted by the carcass of some unfortunate ani- 
mal, which has recently perished among the ravines of the mountains, a 
number of these birds gradually congregate to share the booty, and gorge, 
like the vulture, to repletion. The Liimmergeyer attacks hares, lambs, 
kids, and the weak and sickly of the flocks, with great ferocity : the strone- 
limbed chamois is not secure, nor, when rendered desperate by hunger, will 
the ravenous bird forbear an attack on man. Children, indeed, are said to 
have often fallen sacrifices to its rapacity. Young or small animals are 
easily destroyed, for, though elongated, the beak is hard and strong, and 
well adapted for lacerating the victim; but larger animals, instead of being 
at once grappled with, are, as it is said, insidiously assaulted while upon 
the edge of some precipice or steep declivity, the bird unexpectedly sweep- 
ing upon them with fury, and hurrying them into the abyss, down which it 
plunges to glut its appetite. As illustrative of the boldness of the Liim- 
mergeyer, Bruce relates that, attracted by the preparations for dinner, which 
his servants were making on the summit of a lofty mountain, a Bearded 
Vulture “slowly made his advances to the party, and at length fairly seated 
himself within the ring they had formed. The affrighted natives ran for 
their lances and shields, and the bird, after an ineffectual attempt to abstract 
a portion of their meat from the boiling water, seized a large piece in each 
Ss 
of his talons, from a platter that stood by, and carried them off slowly along 
the ground as he came.” Returning for a second freight, he was shot. 
