THE LARGEST BIRDS THAT FLY 335 



of bones, or the skeletons of smaller mammalia.^ 

 There must, of course, be some foundation (he 

 adds) for the many statements that have been put 

 forth as to the rapacious character of this bird. 

 But this foundation I believe to consist in the 

 natives constantly attributing the depredations 

 committed by eagles to the Lammergeier." 



As to the weight which the larger eagles can 



THE LAMMBEGEIER. 



carry in the shape of prey, the writer last quoted 

 says " the Golden Eagle will kill and carry off young 

 deer (z'.e., fawns) and kids, as I have myself seen. 

 One, at Strathmore, in Caithness, while devouring 



1 This does not quite accord with the remarks of Mr Abel 

 Chapman, who, in his dehghtful book. Wild Spain, p. 314, 

 quotes Manuel de la Torre, the best field naturalist in Spain, to 

 the effect that the Lammergeier takes young lambs and kids, and 

 that he shot one in the act of eating a rabbit which he had just 

 seen it kill. 



