BEARDED VULTURE. 15 



always irritated at trie sight of children. I once left 

 the lid of its cage in my garden open. Watching 

 the moment when no one saw it, it threw itself on 

 one of my nieces, two years and a half old. Having 

 seized her by the shoulders, it threw her down on the 

 ground. Fortunately her cries warned me of the 

 danger she was in, and I hastened to her assistance. 

 The child only suffered from fear and a torn frock. 

 This same bird shows very little courage towards the 

 other birds of prey which reside with it." 



We copy the following excellent description of the 

 habits of this bird from "Tschudi's Sketches of Nature 

 in the high Alps:" — "Soon the pilgrim fancies himself 

 really alone with his labours; with the grey rocks and 

 cold fields of ice, where death has established its eter- 

 nal sway. Beneath him spread the stony deserts; in 

 the distance lie the lands of human cultivation bathed 

 in blue mist; around are the wastes of Schrattcn, and 

 jagged peaks, the naked thrones of the icy storm. But 

 hark! far overhead resounds from a distance a shrill 

 defiant f pui! pui!' He looks around him and discerns 

 a moving speck in the dim blue sky. It floats nearer, 

 but its wings scarcely beat. Soon it comes down with 

 a rustling sound, and see! the Royal Vulture of the 

 high Alps is wheeling round him with outspread pin- 

 ions. Descending still lower it surveys the depths 

 below; and then rising again impatiently to the upper 

 air, flies in a straight line high over the icy summits, 

 which again hide it from view; while its hungry cry 

 resounds for some minutes from beyond the crests of 

 far-away mountains, till again it soars to meet the 

 rising sun. 



In earlier times this giant among European birds of 

 prey inhabited all the districts of our higher Alps ; 



