care bestowed upon “ Carlista,” as I called my Griffon,
for it is still alive and well at Lilford as I write,—in
February 1893. This bird, since its arrival at Lilford,
has shared a compartment with a Cinereous Vulture
taken in Spain in 1865, and for many years past has
annually assisted this bird in making a nest, in which
the latter generally has deposited two or three eggs. I
am convinced that the Griffon has no share in the production
of these eggs, in fact, I am by no means certain
that it is not a female, but, as the end of February
approaches, it becomes quite as savage as its companion,
and only within the last few days I have been obliged
to remove a young Griffon received from Gibraltar last
summer, with whom both the Vultures just mentioned
have lived amicably hitherto. I believe, though I am
not certain of the fact, that these Vultures occasionally
carry off large bones to their haunts among the rocks,
and, letting them fall from great heights, devour the
fragments ; and I remember to have read a statement in
the ‘ Field ’ some years ago to the effect that the writer
had watched some Griffons carrying on this performance
Avith tortoises in European Turkey, in a locality with
which I am well acquainted. If it were not for thé
mention of the particular spot, and the number of birds
said to have been engaged in this manner, I should have
assumed that the . writer was mistaken in his identification,
and that the tortoise-smashers were really Bearded
Vultures ( Gypaëtus barbatus).