AS already explained, the Eagles may be distinguished from the Buzzards by their reticulated tarsus; otherwise the proportions of the leg-bones are similar, the tibia being considerably longer than the tarsus.
THE BEARDED EAGLE, OR LÄMMERGEIER (Gypaëtus barbatus).
The generic name of this Eagle is derived from two Greek words (γύψ, a Vulture, ἀετός, an Eagle), and no name could have been better chosen, for with the structure of an Eagle it combines many of the habits of a Vulture, and has many ways in common with the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus). In Europe it is found only in the mountainous parts of those countries bordering the Mediterranean basin, and is now nearly extinct in Switzerland. In the mountains of Spain, however, it is still to be met with in some quantities, and Mr. Howard Saunders states that one or two pairs may be found in every range of mountains. In Sardinia it is said by Mr. Basil Brooke to be decidedly common, and during one of his visits to that island he obtained a very curious nestling bird covered with down. “A pair of these birds,” says Mr. Brooke, “are in possession of every separate range of hills, which they appear to regard as their own territory, and from which they are seldom to be found far distant. They are generally to be seen singly or in pairs; but now and then I have observed three, and on one occasion four together. As a rule they are most decidedly mountain birds, but occasionally a single bird may be seen hunting over the plains and cultivated lands, not flying more than one hundred yards high. The nest of one found on the 18th of April was built on a broad ledge of a precipitous cliff, about three hundred feet high, within twenty feet of the top, and was completely sheltered from the severity of the weather by a large overhanging piece of rock. After some trouble I discovered a way by which, with a little care, I managed to get on the ledge, much to the discomfort of the solitary inmate—a young nestling, covered as yet with a pale yellowish-brown down. The nest itself was an accumulation of dried sticks, with a cup-shaped hollow in the middle, and had evidently been used for years. In it, and on the surrounding ledge, were great quantities of the leg-bones and feet of goats, &c., and a part of a fox’s lower jaw; these being in all stages of putrefaction, the smell was abominable. The old female on my first visit to the nest sat extremely close, and although I was standing over her within seven or eight yards, would not leave her young until I fired a shot, upon which she dashed off, dropping almost perpendicularly, and was out of range before I could fire. She flew over the valley and lit upon a high-projecting, rocky pinnacle, upon which I could see her through the telescope, sitting quietly watching all my proceedings. She returned to the nest shortly afterwards, on my having retired to a little distance.”
In Algeria the Lämmergeier is said to feed largely on Land Tortoises, which it carries to a great height in the air, and drops upon a convenient rock, so as to break the shell. So much has been written upon the habits of this bird that it would be impossible to give here one tithe of the interesting notes which have been published in various works and periodicals; but no history of the species, however brief, would be complete without a passing mention of the little girl who was said to have been carried off in childhood by one of these birds. The history, believed by him to be well authenticated, is related by Naumann as follows.—“Anna Zurbuchen, of Hatchern, in Bern Oberland, born in 1760, was taken out by her parents, when she was nearly three years old, when they went to collect herbs. She fell asleep, and the father put his straw hat over her face and went to his work. Shortly after, when he returned with a bundle of hay, the child was gone; and the parents and peasants sought her in vain. During this time Heinrich Michel, of Unterseen, was going on a wild path to Wäppesbach, and suddenly heard a child cry. He ran towards the sound, and a Bearded Vulture rose, scared by him, from a mound, and soared away over the precipice. On the extreme edge of the latter, below which a stream roared, and over whose edge any moment would have precipitated it, Michel found the child, which was uninjured, except on the left arm and hand, where the bird had probably clutched it; its shoes, stockings, and cap were gone. This occurred on the 12th of July, 1763. The place where the child was found was about 1,400 paces distant from the tarn where it had been left asleep. The child was afterwards called Lämmergeier-Anni, and married Peter Frutiger, a tailor in Gewaldswyl, where she was still living in 1814.”
The circumstantial way in which the above narrative runs appears to leave little doubt of its reality, but it is difficult to give it credence, as the Lämmergeier has but little power in its feet, which resemble those of the Vultures; and most of the stories of its prowess have been discredited by the researches of modern naturalists. Dr. Brehm observes:—“To my intense astonishment, the Spanish hunters did not regard this bird in the slightest degree as a bold, merciless robber: all asserted that it fed on carrion, especially bones, only attacking living animals when driven by necessity. They called it ‘Quebranta-Huesos,’ or the ‘Bone-smasher,’ and assured me that this favourite food was broken in a singular manner. My later observations proved nothing which would justify my treating their statements as otherwise than correct, so I was forced to come to the conclusion that the Lämmergeier had been much maligned. Since my first account of this bird, I have read a number of communications from other observers, and gather from the whole that the Bearded Vulture is nought else than a weak, cowardly bird of prey, gifted neither in mind nor body to any great extent, and one that but rarely carries away small mammals. Its food usually consists of bones and other carrion.”
Mr. Hudleston met with the Lämmergeier in Greece, where, however, it was not common, and he writes of its habits as observed by him:—“He is not a demonstrative bird like the Griffon, who may be seen sailing about at a great height in the air, sometimes alone, but more often in troops of from half a dozen to fifty, revolving in endless circles round each other, that no corner may remain unseen. The Lämmergeier, on the contrary, may be observed floating slowly, at a uniform level, close to the cliffs of some deep ravine, where his shadow is perhaps projected on the wall-like rocks. If the ravine has salient and re-entering angles, he does not cut across from point to point, but preserves the same distance from the cliff; and when he disappears in any natural fissure, you feel sure of the very spot where he will emerge on turning the corner of the precipice. Marrow-bones are the dainties he loves the best; and when the other Vultures have picked the flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast and swallows the bones, or breaks them and swallows the pieces, if he cannot get the marrow out otherwise. The bones he cracks by taking them to a great height and letting them fall on a stone. This is probably the bird that dropped a Tortoise on the bald head of poor old Æschylus. Not, however, that he restricts himself, or the huge black infant that he and his mate are bringing up, in one of the many holes with which the limestone precipice abounds, to marrow, turtle, bones, and similar delicacies: neither lamb, hare, nor kid comes amiss to him—though, his power of claw and beak being feeble for so large a bird, he cannot tear his meat like other Vultures and Eagles. I once saw a mature bird of this species which had evidently swallowed a bone, or something uncommonly indigestible, close to the abattoir at Athens. He was in a very uncomfortable attitude, and appeared to be leaning on his long tail for support. After riding round in gradually decreasing circles till within ten yards, I dropped off horseback and made a rush at him, but he just managed to escape, and then rising slowly till about the height of the Acropolis, made off towards the gorge of Phylæ, where there is an eyry.
“The Lämmergeier has an extremely ugly countenance; this becomes perfectly diabolical when he is irritated, and shows the bright red round his eyes. Altogether, what with his black beard, rufous breast, and long, dark tail, he is an awful-looking beast, and has the reputation of committing divers evil deeds—such, for instance, as pushing lambs and kids, and even men, off the rocks, when they are in ticklish situations. Nevertheless, he is a somewhat cowardly bird, has a feeble, querulous cry, and will submit to insults from a Falcon not a fourth his size or weight.”
BEARDED EAGLE, OR LÄMMERGEIER.
Von Tschudi says that in Switzerland it will capture Hares, Martens, Squirrels, Crows, and Woodcocks, and he states that a stomach was found to contain five pieces of Bullock’s ribs two inches thick and from six to nine inches long, a lump of hair, and the leg of a young Goat from the knee to the foot. The bones were perforated by the gastric juice, and partly reduced to powder. The stomach of another Lämmergeier, examined by Mr. Schinz, contained the large hip-bone of a Cow, the skin and fore-quarters of a Chamois, many smaller bones, some hair, and a Heath-cock’s claws. Should a Lämmergeier see an old Chamois or a Sheep or Goat grazing near a precipice, it will whirl round and round, trying to torment and frighten the creature till it runs to the edge of the cliff; and then, falling down upon it, the bird not unfrequently succeeds in pushing it into the abyss below with one stroke of its wings. Diving down after its mangled victim, it will begin by picking out its eyes, and then proceed to tear open and devour the body. It is only the smaller class of booty, such as Foxes, Lambs, or Marmots, which can be carried off by the Lämmergeier, as its feet and claws, as we have already remarked, are comparatively weak.[183]