. My life among the wild birds in Spain . , some-times ten or fifteen pairs together passing northward. The largestnumber pass during the last week in March. It is interesting tosee how almost to a day a pair will arrive from the African coastand take possession of the crag where a nest was in the precedingyear. I have seen examples of this on many occasions. The favourite site for the nest is in a cavern or shelf protectedfrom the rain by an overhanging rock. Very rarely have I seena nest which was not thus protected. I know of several situationswhich are used some years by Griffons and in ot
. My life among the wild birds in Spain . , some-times ten or fifteen pairs together passing northward. The largestnumber pass during the last week in March. It is interesting tosee how almost to a day a pair will arrive from the African coastand take possession of the crag where a nest was in the precedingyear. I have seen examples of this on many occasions. The favourite site for the nest is in a cavern or shelf protectedfrom the rain by an overhanging rock. Very rarely have I seena nest which was not thus protected. I know of several situationswhich are used some years by Griffons and in others by Neophrons,also other sites which are used by Ravens and Neophrons. Injustice to the Ravens I have never known them return to a placethe year after a Neophron has defiled it, but I have often seenthe converse. Habits when on Migration 377 Like many other birds of prey, Neophrons at times nest in themost difficult and inaccessible places. Thus 1 know of a nest ina small cavern or rather hole in the face of a cliff over 400 ft. high. LA CUEVA DEL CUERVO A NEOPHRONS CRAG. and not 40 ft. from the bottom. The clifi is known as La Latathe tin plate, from its smoothness. To get this nest would requireseveral hundred feet of rope. 378 The Egyptian Vulture or Neophron Again I know of others in caves on overhanging cliffs whichare practically impossible to reach and assuredly are not worth thetrouble to attempt. One of the most artfully placed nests 1 knowof is in a pinnacle rock on the side of a low sierra, not more than30 ft. or 40 ft. in height which is unclimbable save at one point. The crag is riven in two by a deep and narrow joint orfissure and the nest is placed on a ledge in the same, at a pointabout one-third of the height from the top, and the entrance toit is equally impossible to reach by escalade from below or bydescent with a rope from above since the rock overhangs as canbe seen in the picture on the preceding page. From time imme-morial a pair of Ravens had nested
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