Lammergeier - what a magnificent creature!
A Lammergeier that has taken up residence - at least temporarily in the Peak District - has made headlines this summer. Delving through the ornithological archives, this intriguing item appeared in a 1912 edition of The Ibis, journal of the British Ornithologists' Union.
It is an established fact that the red colouring matter in the feathers of the Bearded Vulture, and also the colouring on its eggs, are due to superficial deposits of oxide of iron, but how the oxide gets there is still, I understand, a moot point.
As regards the stains on the feathers, two theories have been advanced.
It has been suggested that these may be due to the fact (a) that the birds bathe in ferruginous streams or (b) that the iron is derived from the birds' blood.
Ornithologist Allan Hume was inclined to think the latter as he emphatically states that the Lammergeier is "a very dirty bird and never washes".
For the last twenty years or so, I have been closely attending to the habits of this bird and had hitherto always been under the impression that it neither bathes nor drinks water.
It may, therefore, be of interest to some readers to know that, while out searching for nests of this species in a lonely mountain-glen in the Koti State, close to Sinda, in India, I came across a spot to which the Lammergeyers apparently habitually resort, not only to drink but also to bathe.
One of my native hunters had often assured me that he had frequently seen these birds bathing, but, up to this time I had refused to believe him.
Today (October 29, 1911), he exultingly drew my attention to this fact.
The spot selected by these Lammergeiers for drinking and bathing was at the bottom of a small waterfall, and, during the course of a couple of hours or so, I noticed no fewer than four of them follow each other in quick succession, and, without any hesitation, fly straight to this place.
Three of them drank and the fourth had a bath.
While drinking, the birds sat on a prominent stone which projected out from the middle of the water, and they always took frequent and long draughts.
The bird which took a bath alighted at first close to the edge of the stream, then walked slowly into it, and dipped its head several times in the water and splashed about with its wings.
After a short time, it walked back to the edge of the stream, preened its feathers a little, spread out its wings - apparently to dry them - and then took another dip.
This was repeated several times, and the bath lasted for between ten and fifteen minutes.
I had no bottle or other vessel with me, and was therefore unable to bring away any of the water from this stream with a view to getting it analysed.
It would have been interesting to know for certain whether it contained any iron in solution or not.
The next time that I happen to visit this spot, I shall not forget to bring away some of the water.
I note that Captain F. Adair - in his book, A Summer in High Asia (p. 222) - mentions having shot a Lammergeier close to the Tagalang Pass, in Ladakh, when it was "drinking water at a stream".
It seems significant that, in confinement, the Bearded Vulture loses, or does not acquire, its tawny tint.
Would it be possible to acquire this colouring matter on its feathers from mud-baths?
I throw out this suggestion because, two or three years ago I noticed a Lammergeyer indulging in a bath of this nature on the ledge of a precipice.
The bath lasted for about five minutes, and, at the end of it, the bird shook its feathers, raising a thick cloud of dust just as a fowl does.
The late Dr. Adams appears also to have noticed these birds indulging in such baths.
He writes: "A red or cinnamon-coloured powder is plentifully distributed among the feathers of the neck and breast of young and adult individuals, and would seem to be composed of soil containing iron which they obtain from dusting themselves like other birds - a habit much indulged in by the denizens of bare rocky mountains, from the bear and ibex down to the mountain finch."
P. T. L. DODSWORTH
Carlton Grove
Simla, S.W. (Punjab)
India
* Photo: Richard Bartz, Munich, via Wikimedia Commons
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