THE VULTURES 307 



The name Lammergeier means the Vulture that steals 

 lambs. Probably in former days, before the modern rifle 

 was invented, that name was well earned. But the Bearded 

 Vultures that remain in Europe to-day have too much 

 wholesome respect for those death-darting tubes to come 

 too near the shepherds' huts. The old enmity, however, is 

 still kept up. Now and again one of these great birds is 

 shot ; or its nest is broken up by stones hurled at it. In 

 Switzerland a Government reward was offered for every 

 Vulture killed. 



It seems as if the Lammergeiers of earlier days were 

 far more daring than are the few survivors in Spain and 

 Austria at the present time. Here are two examples of 

 their readiness even to attack man. In the Swiss canton 

 (state) of Glaris a turpentine-gatherer had been bold 

 enough, or foolhardy enough, to rob a Lammergeier's 

 nest. He scaled the rock, and, tying the two young birds 

 by the legs, slung them over his back, and began to climb 

 down the precipice. Then down upon him swooped the 

 parent birds, and did their very best to buffet him from 

 his narrow foothold. In this they failed, but so persistent 

 were they that they pursued the man for four miles to the 

 village of Schwanden, to which he carried his plunder. 



On another occasion, Joseph Scherrer, a hunter, had 

 shot a male Lammergeier, and proceeded to make his way 

 up to the nest. But on reaching it he was startled by the 

 sudden uprising of another great bird. It was the female, 

 who, seeing the robber coming, attacked him boldly, drove 

 her talons into his back, and tried with mighty wing- 

 flappings to tear him from the cliff. The man, holding on 

 to the rock with both hands, dared not let go to shoot, yet 

 feared lest the huge creature should succeed in pulling him 

 over the edge. At last he managed to shift his gun till it 



