u76 LORD LTLFOIIU ON RAPTORIAL BIRDS IN THE LILl'ORD AVIARIES. 
keeper or any one else approaches the eggs laid by her or her 
companions. 
I have tAvo very fine specimens of the Bearded Vulture {Gyj>aefm 
harhatuK), sent to me from two separate nests in the mountains near 
Malaga, in 1878. These birds are in magnificent plumage, and both 
have snoAv white breasts : but one of them, in 1886, ac(iuired 
a rich tawny colour on the lower plumage, which was lost at the 
next moult. The person in charge of these birds Avas convinced 
that this colour Avas produced by the bird’s scuffling in the gravel 
of its compartment after Avashing; but as the other bird at Lilford 
Avent through exactly the same process Avithout acquiring the same 
hue, or any trace of it, I am of a different opinion, though I am 
bound to admit, that on Avashing some of these taAvny breast 
feathers Avith soap and Avater, the colour came aAvay entirely. 
From the great size of my birds I believe them both to be females, 
but, till this year, neither has shoAvn any inclination to sit. I heard 
in March last that one of them had scratched a hole in the gravel, 
and often sat in it, but no eggs Averc laid. These tAvo birds on 
arrival at Lilford, and for .some time afterAvards, Avere perfectly 
tame, and Avould sit, one upon my shoulder, and the other on my 
knee, and, contrary to the habits of most raptorial birds, apparently 
much enjoyed being stroked and petted. They have noAv become 
much less confiding. One took to bullying the other, so that Ave 
Avere obliged to separate them: but I have never hoard of their 
showing any ill temper or ferocity to their human attendants. 
They Avere both, for a considerable time, kept in the back shop of 
a booksellei' in IMalaga, Avhere they lived in perfect amity Avith 
several children, puppies, one or tAvo goat kids, and kittens. 
I have noticed this Vulture in almost every province in Spain that 
I have visited. A pair are generally to be found breeding in the 
neighbourhood of every establishment of Grifibns, and Avhen the 
latter birds have picked the bones of a carcase bare, the Bearded 
Vultures come doAvn, and SAvalloAving the smaller bones, carry off 
the larger into the air, and letting them drop from a great height 
upon the rocks, devour the fragments at their leisure. In the 
south of Spain, Avhere Tortoises arc common, these unhappy 
reptiles are treated in the same fashion as the marroAv-bones by 
these birds, Avho, from this Avell-knoAvn habit, have acquired the 
common name of Quehranthuetioa, Le. Bone-breakers. The nest 
