To the BEARDED VULTURE (_Gypaëtos barbatus_) is assigned the first place
upon our list, as being the noblest member of the group with which we
are acquainted, bearing in some respects a resemblance to the Falcons.
The body of this species is elongate, but powerful; its head is large,
long, flat in front, and arching upwards towards the back; its neck is
short; the wings, in which the third quill is much longer than the first,
are of great size and pointed; the long tail is graduated or conical,
and composed of twelve feathers; the beak is large; the upper mandible,
which is saddle-shaped at its base, rises somewhat towards its tip, and
terminates in an abrupt hook; its margins are not incised, and the lower
mandible is straight. The feet are short, and by no means powerful;
the toes of moderate length, and very weak; the talons strong, and but
slightly bent and blunt. The plumage is rich, and composed of large
feathers; the origin of the beak is surrounded by bristles, that grow
over the cere and beneath the lower mandible, thus forming a kind of
beard. The head is covered with small bristle-like feathers, whilst those
upon the neck are of large size; the rest of the plumage lies compact
and close, except upon the legs, the hose being also formed of large
feathers, which extend as far as the toes. In old birds the upper part
of the body is black or blackish brown, each of the individual quills
being tipped and streaked upon the shaft with white; the under side is
reddish yellow or white, spotted here and there with black; greyish brown
predominates in the coloration of the young. The skeleton of this bird is
remarkably massive. The back-bone contains thirteen vertebræ in the neck,
eight in the back, and seven in the tail; the breast-bone is long and
broad, and its keel very deep.
[Illustration: THE BEARDED VULTURE, OR LÄMMERGEIER (_Gypaëtos barbatus_).]
It remains at present undecided whether the Bearded Vultures found
throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa are to be regarded as different, or
merely as varieties of the same species. Of these the European is the
largest, being, according to Tschudi, from four to four and a half feet
long and nine and a half broad. The tail measures twenty-one inches. The
female is generally larger than her mate. The different species, if such
they be, vary somewhat in the coloration of their plumage. The Bearded
Vulture, or Lämmergeier (Lamb Vulture), of the Swiss Alps inhabits all
the lofty mountain ranges of Europe, Asia, and Africa, living usually
in pairs, or alone, and but rarely appearing in parties of more than
five. The flight of this truly formidable bird will bear comparison
with that of many Falcons, and its powers of enduring fatigue are very
considerable. Upon the ground it steps somewhat after the manner of the
Raven, but with much less ease and nimbleness. Most wonderful tales have
been told of the _Ossifragra_ (Bone-breaker), as the Bearded Vulture
was called by the ancients, from the fact that its favourite method of
despatching its victims is by precipitating them from lofty cliffs, in
order that the carcase may be shattered by the fall. Gesner, who wrote
about the fifteenth century, assures his readers that the eyrie of a
Lämmergeier, found in Germany, "was placed upon three oaks, and was
constructed of branches and other materials, so widely extended that a
wagon could have been sheltered under it. In this nest were three young
birds, already so large as to measure three ells in the spread of their
wings. Their legs were thicker than those of a lion, and their claws as
the fingers of a man." We smile at such exaggerations as these; there is
no doubt, however, that these birds are by far the most dangerous and
rapacious of the many feathered tyrants by which mountain ranges are
infested. In 1819 so numerous did they become in Saxe Gotha that, after
two children had been carried off by them, a price was set upon their
heads. They destroy sheep, hares, she-goats, chamois, and calves, in
large numbers, and hold even man himself in so little dread that he would
be foolhardy indeed who should venture to molest them during the breeding
season. From Simpson we learn that marrow-bones constitute the tid-bits
of these feathered monsters, and that no sooner is the flesh stripped
away than they either swallow the bones entire or dash them to pieces by
dropping them upon a piece of rock. They will also devour tortoises, and
the writer from whom we quote suggests that it was probably a Lämmergeier
that made the unfortunate mistake of endeavouring to break the hard
covering of one of these creatures by letting it fall upon the head of
the poet Æschylus, imagining that worthy ancient's bald pate to be a
stone.
Such of these birds as inhabit Asia and Africa are equally formidable.
Bruce relates a fact that came under his own notice, well calculated to
show that those on the latter continent are by no means behind their
European congeners, either in audacity or strength. The traveller and
his companions, while in the mountains, were seated at their dinner with
several large dishes of goat's flesh before them, when a Bearded Vulture
suddenly appeared. It did not swoop rapidly from a height, but came
slowly flying along the ground, sat down close to the meat, within the
ring formed by the men, and deliberately put its foot into the pan in
which a large piece of meat was boiling, but, as may be supposed, soon
withdrew it; there were, however, two other pieces, a leg and a shoulder;
into these it struck its claws and carried them off. After a short time
it returned for more, but was shot by one of the men, who by this time
had recovered from their astonishment at such an unwelcome and unexpected
intrusion.
The breeding time of the Bearded Vulture occurs in Europe during the
first months of the year, and in Asia and Africa during the spring. The
nest is variously constructed, and we cannot do better than give the
words in which those built in Arabia were described by our guides: "The
nest of this robber and son of a robber (may Allah curse him and all his
generations!) is placed where the sons of Adam can rarely penetrate, and
is formed of a huge bed of goat's hair, gathered from the animals the
wretch has slaughtered. The nest contains but two eggs, with a white
shell, spotted all over with the blood of its prey." The brother of Dr.
Brehm was the first European who succeeded in finding one of the many
nests built by these birds amid the solitudes of the Pyrenees. This eyrie
was about five feet in diameter at its base and its height three feet;
the interior was about two feet wide and five inches deep; the sides were
constructed of branches varying greatly both in length and thickness;
upon these was a heap of twigs, in the middle of which the hollow of the
nest was excavated; the interior was lined with a bed of various kinds
of hair. The eggs of such European species as we have seen were large
and almost spherical, with a coarse-grained, dirty white shell, spotted
with reddish brown, dark grey, or ochreous yellow. As may be easily
imagined, the capture of these huge and fierce birds is attended with
much difficulty; the Swiss endeavour to lure them down during the winter
by sprinkling blood upon the snow, or laying a trap baited with carrion
near the spots upon which the eyries are built.
* * * * *
The TRUE VULTURES (_Vultures_) have stout powerful bodies, which are of
unusual breadth at the breast; the wings are long, broad, and rounded,
their fourth quill being of greater length than the rest; the tail is of
medium size, and slightly rounded at its extremity; the individual quills
are stiff and ragged, or split towards their tip; the legs are strong,
of moderate length, and destitute of feathers; the toes, though long
and powerful, are almost useless for grasping; the talons are slightly
bent and very blunt. The beak, which is as long as the head, is higher
than it is broad, and straight except at its extremity, which terminates
in a moderately long and very sharp hook; the mandibles bulge slightly
outwards at their margins. The plumage is composed of very long and broad
feathers, and does not entirely cover the body, the head and neck are
either quite bare or overspread with a slight growth of hair-like down.
In some species the legs and belly are covered with down, intermingled
upon the latter with long narrow feathers. The bare or thinly-covered
portions of the body are often brightly coloured, but the plumage itself
is usually sombre and indistinct in its coloration, though occasionally
variegated. The eyes are large and expressive, the formation of the
nostril differs considerably according to the species. All the members
of this group see, hear, and smell with great acuteness, and their
intelligence is by no means inferior to that of the Bearded Vulture.
* * * * *
The CONDORS, or WATTLED VULTURES (_Sarcorhamphi_), as three of the
largest species of True Vultures have been called, are at once
recognisable by their comparatively slender bodies, long narrow wings,
and long tails. The tarsi are high and the toes large; their neck is
of moderate size, and the head long; the beak, compressed at the side,
terminates in a powerful hook, which, in the male, is decorated above
the base of the upper mandible with a kind of fleshy comb, and, in the
region of the chin, with wattles or folds of skin. The nostrils are very
peculiar in their formation, not having the usual division between them.
The plumage is composed of small, brightly coloured feathers, and does
not cover the whole body, some parts being left entirely bare. Unlike
most of their family, the males of the three known species of Condors are
larger than the females.