522 
BIRD-LIFE. 
clumsy or awkward; it does not hop, but rather strides. 
We have never heard it utter any cry or sound while on 
the wing.* 
In Spain, the Lammergeir is looked upon as a very 
harmless bird. It causes the shepherd no anxiety. No 
cattle owner can tell a tale of robbery which can be traced 
home to it; on the contrary, one and all assert that it feeds 
on carrion, in company with the Vulture, showing however 
a strong preference for the bones, which it consumes 
after having let them fall from a great height on to the 
rocks below, where they are found smashed to pieces, a 
treatment similar to that to which it subjects tortoises 
elsewhere. The Englishman, Simpson, even avers that 
each individual bird has its own particular rock for the 
destruction of this reptile. It is probable that the Lam¬ 
mergeir does not condescend to devour birds. Schintz 
found the claws of a Black Cock in the stomach of 
one, which he shot in the Alps; but this was all, 
not a feather was to be seen in its crop. It is, however, 
possible, that these claws were the residue of an Eagle’s 
dinner, which the Lammergeir had finished. In the 
Sierra Nevada I have seen large flocks of Bock Pigeons 
scared by the mere passing by of a Lammergeir near 
their roosting-places, but nothing more; I have never 
seen it strike at birds, nor even show the slightest 
inclination to do so; nor have I ever heard of its giving 
chase to feathered game; and two tame ones we had 
* This statement is a somewhat unfortunate contradiction to the first paragraph 
in this chapter. My friend, Mr. W. T. Blanford, who had some opportunity of 
watching the habits of the closely-allied African Lammergeir (Gypaehis meridionalis), 
looks upon it as a very silent bird, which statement entirely coincides with my 
experience, though it must be stated we did not meet with this bird during the 
breeding season. The African bird differs but little from G. barbatus, excepting 
in size.— W. J. 
