BEARDED VULTURE. 13 



The Lammergeyer, or Lamb-slayer, is becoming one 

 of the rarest birds of Europe, though at one time it 

 was found in plenty by the chasseurs of the Swiss 

 mountains and the Tyrol. Its predatory habits mark 

 it as an object of destruction, and in obedience to 

 what appears a natural law, like the Red Indian it 

 disappears before the march of civilization. Its home 

 is in the wildest and most lonely parts of the grand 

 mountains in the Indian and European continents. The 

 traveller from the Himalayas meets with it again in 

 the dreary Caucasus, as well as in the rocky heights 

 of the Tyrol, or the gloomy grandeur of the snow- 

 capped Alps. It is found in Egypt, in Syria, in 

 Algeria, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Siberia. 

 It is rarest in Switzerland and Germany, though still 

 not uncommon in Sardinia. Occasionally it is found 

 in France and Spain. 



This bird forms the natural passage from the Vultures 

 to the Falcons. Like the latter it feeds upon living 

 prey, and the neck is covered with feathers. On the 

 other hand, its alliance with the Vultures is strong and 

 decided — in the form of its beak, and in the dispro- 

 portionate strength of its talons to the size of the 

 body. It also has its eyes even with the head, its 

 wings are extended when at rest, and the crop when 

 full projects at the bottom of the neck. 



Its principal articles of food are lambs, goats, the 

 chamois, and even deer, possession of which it obtains 

 by driving them over precipices, and then feeding iipon 

 the dead bodies where they lie. It has been said to 

 attack man himself when asleep, which is not improbable, 

 as it is a fearless bird in its own wilds. 



The African traveller, Bruce, has given a graphic 

 and amusing account of this bird in the fifth volume 



