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LAMMERGEYER (Ger. Lammergeier, Lamm, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 131 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAMMERGEYER (Ger. Lammergeier, Lamm, See also:lamb, and Geier, See also:vulture) , or bearded vulture, the Falco barbatus of See also:Linnaeus and the Gypaetus barbatus of See also:modern ornithologists, one of the grandest birds-of-See also:prey of the Palaearctic region—inhabiting lofty See also:mountain chains from See also:Portugal to the See also:borders of See also:China, though within historic times it has been exterminated in several of its See also:ancient haunts. Its See also:northern range in See also:Europe does not seem to have extended farther than the See also:southern frontier of See also:Bavaria, or the neighbourhood of See also:Salzburg; 1 but in See also:Asia it formerly reached a higher See also:latitude, having been found even so lately as 183o in the See also:Amur region where, according to G. F. Radde (Beitr. Kenntn. Russ. Reichs, See also:xxiii. p. 467), it has now See also:left but its name. It is not uncommon on many parts of the Himalayas, where it breeds; and on the mountains of See also:Kumaon and the See also:Punjab, and is the " See also:golden See also:eagle " of most Anglo-See also:Indians. It is found also in See also:Persia, See also:Palestine, See also:Crete. and See also:Greece, the See also:Italian See also:Alps, See also:Sicily, See also:Sardinia and Mauritania. In some See also:external characters the lammergeyer is intermediate between the families Vulturidae and Falconidae, and the See also:opinion of systematists has from See also:time to time varied as to its proper position.

It is now generally agreed, however, that it is more closely allied with the eagles than with the vultures, and the sub-See also:

family Gypaetinae of the Falconidae has been formed to contain ii. The whole length of the See also:bird is from 43 to 46 in., of which, however, about 20 are due to the See also:long See also:cuneiform tail, while the pointed wings measure more than 30 in. from the carpal See also:joint to the tip. The See also:top of the See also:head is See also:white, bounded by See also:black, which, beginning in stiff bristly feathers turned forwards over the See also:base of the See also:beak, proceeds on either See also:side of the See also:face in a well-defined See also:band to the See also:eye, where it bifurcates into two narrow stripes, of which the upper one passes above and beyond that feature till just in front of the See also:scalp it suddenly turns upwards across the head and meets the corresponding stripe from the opposite side, enclosing the white forehead already mentioned, while the See also:lower stripe extends beneath the eye about as far backwards and then suddenly stops. A tuft of black, bristly feathers projects beardlike from the base of the mandible, and gives the bird one of its commonest epithets in many See also:languages. The See also:rest of the head, the See also:neck, See also:throat and lower parts generally are clothed with lanceolate feathers of a See also:pale tawny See also:colour—sometimes so pale as to be nearly white beneath; while the scapulars, back and wing-coverts generally, are of a glossy greyish-black, most of the feathers having a white See also:shaft and a median tawny See also:line. The See also:quill-feathers, both of the wings and tail, are of a dark blackish-See also:grey. The irides are of a See also:light See also:orange, and the sclerotic tunics—See also:equivalent to the " white of the eye " in most animals—which in few birds are visible, are in this very conspicuous and of a See also:bright See also:scarlet, giving it an See also:air of See also:great ferocity. In the See also:young of the See also:year the whole head, neck and throat are clothed in dull black, and most of the feathers of the See also:mantle and wing-coverts are broadly tipped and mesially streaked with tawny or lightish-grey. The lammergeyer breeds See also:early in the year. The See also:nest is of large See also:size, built of sticks, lined with soft material and placed on a ledge of See also:rock—a spot being chosen, and often occupied for many years, which is nearly always difficult of See also:access. Here in the See also:month of See also:February a single See also:egg is usually laid. This is more than 3 in. in length by nearly 22 in breadth, of a pale but lively brownish-orange.

The young when in the nest are clad in down of a dirty white, varied with grey on the head and neck, and with ochraceous in the iliac region. There is much discrepancy as to the See also:

ordinary See also:food of the lammergeyer, some observers maintaining that it lives almost entirely on carrion, See also:offal and even ordure; but there is no question of its frequently taking living prey, and it is reasonable to suppose that this bird, like so many others, is not everywhere See also:uniform in its habits. Its name shows it to be the reputed enemy of shepherds, and it is in some measure owing to their hostility that it has been exterminated in so many parts of its See also:European range. But the lammergeyer has also a great partiality for bones, which when small enough it swallows. When they are too large, it is said to soar with them to a great height and drop them on a rock or See also:stone that they may be broken into pieces of convenient size. Hence its name ossifrage,2 by which the 1 See a See also:paper by Dr Girtanner on this bird in See also:Switzerland (Verhandl. St-See also:Gall. naturw. Gesellschaft, 1869-1870, pp. 147-244). 2 Among other crimes attributed to the See also:species is that, according to See also:Pliny (Hist. Nat. x. cap. 3), of having caused the See also:death of the poet See also:Aeschylus, by dropping a See also:tortoise on his bald head!

In the See also:

Hebrew Peres is rightly translated in the Authorized Version of the See also:Bible (Lev. xi. 13; Deut. xiv. 12)—a word corrupted into See also:osprey, and applied to a bird which has no See also:habit of the See also:kind. The lammergeyer of See also:north-eastern and See also:south See also:Africa is specific-ally distinct, and is known as Gypaetus meridionalis or G. nudipes. In habits it resembles the northern bird, from which it differs in little more than wanting the black stripe below the eye and having the lower See also:part of the See also:tarsus See also:bare of feathers. It is the " golden eagle " of See also:Bruce's Travels, and has been beautifully figured by See also:Joseph See also:Wolf in E. Riippell's Syst. Ubers. der See also:Vogel See also:Nord-Ost-Afrika's (Taf. I). (A.

End of Article: LAMMERGEYER (Ger. Lammergeier, Lamm, lamb, and Geier, vulture)

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