THE LAMMERGEYER. 599 



iprey, and sometimes reaches five feet in length. Its spread of wing 

 generally measures nine or ten feet. Sometimes these limits are 

 exceeded, for one was killed during the French expedition to Egypt, 

 in the presence of Monge and Bertholet, which measured upwards 

 •of fourteen feet. 



The Lammergeyer is endowed with wonderful strength of body and 

 powers of flight ; it is not therefore surprising that it attacks animals 

 of considerable size, such as calves, lambs, deer, chamois, &c, and 

 that it succeeds in overpowering them. Like the Eagle, it is reported 

 •to perpetrate the following ruse, one almost telling of reasoning 

 powers. Waiting until its victim stands isolated on the edge of a 

 precipice, it flies suddenly against the poor creature, beats it with its 

 wings, and forces it to fall over into the abyss below, where it 

 descends to feed on the mangled carcase. 



It has been asserted that it sometimes ventures to employ this 

 manoeuvre against the chamois-hunter, to make him lose his equi- 

 librium in difficult passes. But in spite of all the wonderful stories 

 told, it cannot be admitted that it is capable of carrying off lambs or 

 children, for the weakness of its claws will not support a prey of 

 weight; it is therefore obliged to rend its victims in pieces, and 

 devour them where killed. 



Although it cannot carry off children, it is nevertheless true that 

 it sometimes attacks them, as the two following facts will prove. 



In 1 8 19 two children were devoured by Lammergeyers in the 

 environs of Saxe-Gotha, which induced the Government to set a price 

 •on the heads of these birds. M. Crespon, in his " Ornithologie du 

 Gard," relates the second fact : — 



" For many years," says he, " I was in possession of a living 

 Griffon which exhibited no very great courage towards some other 

 large birds of prey which were kept with it, but it was different as 

 regarded children, upon whom it attempted to spring, spreading out 

 its wings as if it wished to strike them. Latterly, I let this bird run 

 about free in my garden. Watching for a moment when no one saw 

 it, it darted upon one of my nieces, two years and a half old, and, 

 having seized her by the top of her shoulders, threw her down to the 

 ground. Fortunately her cries warned us of the danger she was in, 

 and I hastened to her rescue, and found that the child had suffered 

 no other injury but fright and the tearing of her dress." 



This bird shows great courage in defence of its offspring. Joseph 

 Scherrer, a chamois-hunter, having first killed the male parent, 

 ■climbed to an aerie to obtain the young, and had to engage in such a 

 furious encounter with the female that it was with immense difficulty 



