FROM SPAIN. 47), 
almost always situated in the most inaccessible precipices. 
The only certain way to watch these birds near at hand and 
to obtain them is by decoying them with a carcass; and in 
Spain one can in suitable places get near them in this way at 
any hour of the day, and without great precautions such as 
are necessary with eagles. The hiding-place of the observer 
does not even require to be particularly well concealed, for 
gormandizing is the one idea and the sole occupation of these 
vulgar birds. 
To attract vultures' quickly to a carcass, one must expose it 
on some high position which is visible from afar, for they 
follow each other, and in a few minutes the enticing bait is 
detected and all of them plump down to the ground. The 
one thing to avoid is the laying out of the lure in a deep 
valley or any particularly low-lying spot, for the vultures like 
to have an open look-out during their feast, and fear being 
surprised in a moment of laziness and torpor after their gorge. 
We once laid out six horses in a deep valley of the Sierra de 
Ronda; but though there were nests all about, and the vultures 
made great sweeps round the place high in the air, they 
nevertheless resisted their gluttonous instincts and forbore to 
descend into the narrow ravine. 
When in Spain, I daily saw numbers of living Griffon 
Vultures, and many either freshly killed, in skins, or set up 
in collections, and it always struck me that the Spanish bird 
was paler and altogether more beautiful in colour than that 
of the East. The white of the head, neck, and ruff is purer 
and more brilliant; the breast, belly, back, and shoulders are 
yellower and of a clearer and finer tint. I simply make this 
modest remark in the hope that some other traveller wander- 
ing through Spain with an eye for the bird-world may 
confirm it by further observations. 
