ORDER ACCIPITRES. 191 



pounds. The beak is four inches long ; it is covered above on 

 the base, as far as its centre, with numerous long and black 

 hairs, directed forward ; underneath hangs a tuft of similar 

 hairs, forming a true beard, an inch and a half in length. 

 There are more of these hairs scattered at the corners of the 

 beak and over the throat, near the eyelids and brows. The 

 tail, three inches wide and six long, is rounded, and composed 

 of twelve quills : the wings have two-and-thirty. 



The upper part of the head is white among adults, and more 

 especially in old subjects : in the young it is black. The occi- 

 put, the neck, and the under part of the body are white, 

 washed with red or orange, a difference occasioned by age in 

 the males : these colours are deeper on the throat and breast, 

 weaker on the belly, legs, and feet. The under part of the 

 wings is gray : the feathers of the tail, upper coverts of the 

 •wings, and croup, are of a clear gray, and bordered with 

 black : the wing coverts at the end are spotted with orange : 

 all the rest of the plumage is of a very deep brown. The beard 

 is black. 



The Alpine and Pyrenean chains, in their loftiest and most 

 inaccessible regions, constitute the principal asylum of the 

 Laemmer-geyer. From these towering heights, where 



Horror wide extends 



His desolate domain, 



this formidable bird descends, on rapid wing, into the fertile 

 valleys of Switzerland and the smiling plains of the South, to 

 pounce upon his prey. Equal, perhaps, at his fullest growth, 

 to the condor, equal in ferocity, and scarcely inferior in 

 strength, he spreads devastation far and wide among the peace- 

 ful tenants of the fold, and the wild, but timid inhabitants of 

 the hills, the meadows, and the lawns. The swiftness and 

 activity of the hare, the chamois, or " the nimble marmazet," 

 afford them no security against their winged foe; nor can the 

 smallest quadrupeds escape his piercing ken. It is even 

 reported that this rapacious animal does not confine his attacks 



