DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0118
XXVII.J VULTURES, EAGLES AND FALCONS.
99
the east, and also on the shore, is absolutely impassable
for horses. The whole distance by the paths, along
which the road is best, and which may be traversed
on horseback, was said to be about twelve miles. My
only alternative, therefore, was between walking on foot
for an hour, directly over the hills, and making, on
horseback, a tedious circuit, part of which would be
along our yesterday's road. I determined on walking,
and on sending the horses round. The ascent up the
hills does not take above twenty minutes, but the road is
such that I was glad not to have attempted bringing our
steeds along with us, although asses, which are never shod
in this part of the world, do constantly traverse it with-
out any danger. When we reach the top of these hills
bounding the little plain of Lissos on the east, summits
of mountains still covered with snow are visible four or
five miles in an east and north-east direction. After
starting a covey of partridges, we disturbed a flock of
ten large vultures, of a light brown colour, with wings
which were nearly black, as they were feeding on the
body of a kid lying near our path.
Belon observes that vultures, eagles and falcons, in
Crete, build their nests, not, like other birds, in trees,
but in difficult and precipitous places, among rocks
which look towards the sea1. He mentions the fact,
of which we have here ocular evidence, that vultures
' Belon, Singularitez etc. Liv. i. Ch. xi. fol. 13. His phrase is: "en
'ieu moult difficile et precipiteux." He subjoins : " Les voulants desnicher,
fa"t auoir vne lorigue corde qu'on laisse pendre le long du roc, dont le bout
est attache' dessus le faiste de la montagne a quelque pau rlchd en terre. ^ Un
Paysan deualle le long de la corde jusques a tant qu'il paruient au lieu ou est
J« nid du Vautour, puis retourne a mont par la mesme corde par laquelle
a estoit descendu. Autrement mettent vn petit garson dedans vne grande
corbeille, qu'ils deuallent le dessus le roc contre has : & quand il est parvenu
au nid, lors il met les oiseaux en sa corbeille & se fait retirer a mont." The
eagle's building in high places is frequently alluded to in the Old Testament,
as in Jou, xxxix. 27-28. Our Milton says, (Paradise Lost, vir. 423.)
There the eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build:
I suppose him to mean cliffs for the eagle, and cedar-tops for the stork.
See Psalm civ. 16-17, and Bochabt's Hierozoicon, Vol. in. pp. 89-90.
99
the east, and also on the shore, is absolutely impassable
for horses. The whole distance by the paths, along
which the road is best, and which may be traversed
on horseback, was said to be about twelve miles. My
only alternative, therefore, was between walking on foot
for an hour, directly over the hills, and making, on
horseback, a tedious circuit, part of which would be
along our yesterday's road. I determined on walking,
and on sending the horses round. The ascent up the
hills does not take above twenty minutes, but the road is
such that I was glad not to have attempted bringing our
steeds along with us, although asses, which are never shod
in this part of the world, do constantly traverse it with-
out any danger. When we reach the top of these hills
bounding the little plain of Lissos on the east, summits
of mountains still covered with snow are visible four or
five miles in an east and north-east direction. After
starting a covey of partridges, we disturbed a flock of
ten large vultures, of a light brown colour, with wings
which were nearly black, as they were feeding on the
body of a kid lying near our path.
Belon observes that vultures, eagles and falcons, in
Crete, build their nests, not, like other birds, in trees,
but in difficult and precipitous places, among rocks
which look towards the sea1. He mentions the fact,
of which we have here ocular evidence, that vultures
' Belon, Singularitez etc. Liv. i. Ch. xi. fol. 13. His phrase is: "en
'ieu moult difficile et precipiteux." He subjoins : " Les voulants desnicher,
fa"t auoir vne lorigue corde qu'on laisse pendre le long du roc, dont le bout
est attache' dessus le faiste de la montagne a quelque pau rlchd en terre. ^ Un
Paysan deualle le long de la corde jusques a tant qu'il paruient au lieu ou est
J« nid du Vautour, puis retourne a mont par la mesme corde par laquelle
a estoit descendu. Autrement mettent vn petit garson dedans vne grande
corbeille, qu'ils deuallent le dessus le roc contre has : & quand il est parvenu
au nid, lors il met les oiseaux en sa corbeille & se fait retirer a mont." The
eagle's building in high places is frequently alluded to in the Old Testament,
as in Jou, xxxix. 27-28. Our Milton says, (Paradise Lost, vir. 423.)
There the eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build:
I suppose him to mean cliffs for the eagle, and cedar-tops for the stork.
See Psalm civ. 16-17, and Bochabt's Hierozoicon, Vol. in. pp. 89-90.