With regard to the probability of the Irish specimen
having escaped from captivity, I can only say that there
is nothing in any way impossible in its having found
its way voluntarily from the north of Spain, where the
species is locally very common; a flight of three or
four hundred miles would hardly overstrain the staying-
powers of a Griffon, even on the supposition that it
came to Ireland straight across the sea from the Cantabrian
Mountains. The reason of its visit is difficult
to conjecture, as I imagine that unburied remains of
animals must have always been more abundant in the
neighbourhood of the bird’s home (supposing him to
have been of Spanish origin) than in the “ distressful
country,” even in the worst of times. I may here say
that the details of another occurrence of the Griffon,
alluded to by Mr. Saunders in his ‘ Manual,’ are well
known to me, and that I have not the slightest doubt as
to correct identification in this instance. I can claim an
intimate acquaintance with the present species in Spain,
Sardinia, North Africa, European Turkey, and Cyprus,
and have also observed it rarely in Northern Italy, in
Sicily, and in Crete. The Griffon Vulture and its habits
in Spain, North Africa, and Palestine have been so fully
and so ably described by Colonel Irby, Canon Tristram,
Mr. 0. Salvin, and other writers, that to give details of
my own experience on the subject would be little more
than vain repetition. I will therefore only summarize
from my notes and journals on the subject with regard
to the first-mentioned of these countries,—my well-
beloved Spain. There is, I imagine, hardly a square mile
of Andalucia from which it would not be possible to
observe one or more of these Vultures on any day of
the year; in Central Spain also the Griffon is common
enough in all suitable localities, although perhaps not so
abundant there as the Cinereous, or so-called “ Black”
Vulture (Vultur cinereus). I have seen it in Galicia
occasionally, and found it nesting in large colonies on
the frontiers of Asturias and Santander, as also in
Guipuzcoa and Navarra. In Aragon, Cataluna, and
Valencia it did not appear to me to be so abundant as in
the other provinces. The Griffon is naturally a bird of the
Sierras, and, although constantly to be met with in the
plains at all seasons, its visits thereunto are induced
solely by “ questions of supply.” The ancient idea that
Vultures find the carcases that furnish their almost
exclusive diet by scent has long been exploded. Mr.
Saunders has pithily summed up their system of telegraphy
in about three lines, for which I refer my readers
to the oft-quoted ‘ Manual.’
The Griffon Vulture makes a large nest of sticks and
grass, and lays one or two white eggs, generally about
the end of February. The nests are usually placed on
the ledges or in the cavities of weather-worn ranges of
cliffs, and as several, often many, pairs of these carrion-
feeders nest in close proximity to each other, and there
is almost always a gathering-place for the unemployed
of their community in the immediate neighbourhood of
the breeding-establishment, it will be readily believed
that many wild and picturesque mountain-gorges in
Spain lack the charm of fragrance during the season of
flowers—in fact, these Vulture-haunted cliffs smell most
abominably, in spite of the frequent abundance of