293 



CHAPTBK XXV. 



IN SEARCH OF THE LAMMEEGEYEE. 



A WINTER RIDE IN THE SIERRAS. 



To the Lammergeyer tradition has assigned some roman- 

 tic attributes, and a character of wondrous dash and daring. 

 This is the bird that is credited with feats of hurling 

 hunters from perilous positions down crag or crevass, 

 carrying off children to its eyrie, and kidnapping un- 

 guarded babes. Even Dr. Bree, in his "Birds of Europe," 

 while doubting that it habitually assails grown-up people, 

 gravely asserts that a pair of these birds will not hesitate 

 to attack a man whom they have caught at a disadvan- 

 tage ; while one will venture, single-handed, an onslaught 

 on two hunters who are asleep. Some naturalists now 

 seem inclined to go to the other extreme, and to regard 

 the Lammergeyer as merely a huge Neophron. 



No doubt the great size and weird, dragon-like appear- 

 ance of the Gypaetus have tended to promote exaggeration, 

 while its rarity and remote haunts have made it no easy 

 subject to study, and few have formed its acquaintance in 

 its own almost inaccessible domains. Our small expe- 

 riences, narrated in the, two following chapters, seem to 

 show that the truth lies between the two extremes. 



Towards the end of January we set out for a fortnight's 

 exploration of the mountains beyond Tempul and Algar, a 

 forty-mile ride to the eastward of Jerez. Bitter was the 

 cold as we rode off in the darkness at 5 a.m., only two 

 stars shining in the eastern firmament; truly the word 

 recreo, as Bias explained to the sentry on duty at the old 

 Moorish gateway, that we were only bound on pleasure, 



