230 THE CONDOR. 
This magnificent bird is a native of Southern Europe and Western Asia, 
and often attains a very great size, the expanse of its wings being sometimes 
as much as ten feet, and its length nearly four feet. 
The name of Bearded Vulture has been given to the Lammergeyer on 
account of the tufts of long and stiff bristle-like hairs which take rise at the 
nostrils and beneath the 
bill, and form a very 
prominent characteristic 
of the species. 
The colour of the 
Lammergeyer is a grey- 
brown, curiously dashed 
with white upon the up- 
per surface, in conse- 
quence of a white streak 
which runs along the 
centre of each feather, 
The under surface of the 
body, together with the 
neck, are nearly white, 
tinged with a wash of 
reddish brown, which 
is variable in depth in 
different individuals. In 
the earlier stages of its 
existence, the Lammer- 
geyer is of amuchdarker 
hue, and the white dashes 
upon the back are not 
so purely white nor so 
clearly defined. The 
head and neck are dark 
brown, and the brown 
hue of the back is of 
so deep a tint that the 
young bird has been 
classed as a separate 
species, under the title 
of Vultur niger,or Black 
Vulture. 
ALTHOUGH not ex- 
ceeding the lammergeyer 
in dimensions, the CON- 
DOR has been long cele- 
brated as a giant among 
birds, the expanse of its 
wings being set down at 
CONDOR. —(Sarcorhamphus Gryphus.) eighteen or twenty feet, 
and its length exagge- 
rated inthe same proportion. In reality, the expanse of a large Condor’s 
wings will very seldom reach eleven feet, and the average extent is from 
eight to nine feet. : ; : 
The general colour of the Condor is a greyish black, variable in depth and 
glossiness in different individuals. The upper wing-coverts are marked 
with white, which take a greyer tint in the female, and the exterior edges of 
