244 L A M L A M
back, and wing-coverts generally, are of a glossy greyish-black, most of the feathers having a white shaft and a median tawny line. The quill-feathers, both of the wings and tail, are of a dark blackish-grey. The irides are of a light orange, and the sclerotic tunics, – equivalent to the "white of the eye" in most animals, – which in few birds are visible, are in this very conspicuous and of a deep crimson, giving it an air of great ferocity. In the young of the year the whole head, neck, and throat are clothed in dull black, and most of the feathers of the mantle and wing-coverts are broadly tipped and mesially streaked with tawny or lightish grey.
The Lämmergeyer breeds early in the year. The nest is of large size, built of sticks, lined with soft material, and placed on a ledge of rock – a spot being chosen, and often occupied for many years, which is nearly always difficult of access, and not unfrequently quite inaccessible, to man, from the precipitous or overhanging configuration of the cliffs. Here in the month of February a single egg is usually laid. This is more than 3 inches in length by nearly 2½ in breadth, of a pale but lively brownish-orange. The young when in the nest are clad in down of a dirty white, varied with grey on the head and neck, and with ochraceous in the iliac region. How long the eggs take in hatching, or how long the young remain nestlings, seems to be unknown. Equally unknown is the length of time that elapses before the latter assume the adult plumage, but it is probable that this period must at least exceed a twelvemonth.
There is much discrepancy as to the ordinary food of the Lämmergeyer, some observers maintaining that it lives almost entirely on carrion, offal, and the most disgusting garbage; but there is no question of its frequently taking living prey, and it is reasonable to suppose that this bird, like so many others, is not everywhere uniform in its habits. Its very name shews it to be the reputed enemy of shepherds, and it is in some measure owing to their hostility that it has been exterminated in so many parts of its European range. The usual mode of proceeding is said to be by suddenly rushing at the animal, especially if it be young, when in a somewhat dangerous position, so startling it as to make it lose its foothold and fall down the precipice.[1] But the Lämmergeyer has also a great partiality for bones, which when small enough it swallows and slowly digests. When they are too large, it is said to soar with them to a great height and drop them on a rock or stone that they may be broken into pieces of convenient size. Hence its name Ossifrage,[2] by which the Hebrew Peres is rightly translated in the Authorized Version of the Bible (Lev. xi. 13; Deut. xiv. 12) – a word corrupted into OSPREY (q.v.), and applied to a bird which has no habit of the kind.
The Lämmergeyer of north-eastern and south Africa is deemed by systematists to be specifically distinct, and is known as Gypaetus meridionalis or G. nudipes. In habits it seems closely to resemble the northern bird, from which it differs in little more than wanting the black stripe below the eye and having the lower part of the tarsus bare of feathers. It is the "Golden Eagle" of Bruce's Travels, and has been beautifully figured by Mr Wolf in Dr Rüppell's Syst. Uebers. der Vögel Nord-Ost-Afrika's (Taf. 1). (A. N.)
LAMONT, Johann von (1805-1879), was born at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on December 13, 1805. He was sent at the age of twelve to be educated at the Scottish monastery in Ratisbon, and apparently never afterwards returned to his native country, – so that he became to all intents and purposes a German. After passing through the gymnasium and lyceum, he devoted himself to theology; but his strong bent for scientific studies was recognized by the head of the monastery, P. Deasson, and on his recommendation he was admitted to the then new observatory of Bogenhausen (near Munich), where he worked under Soldener, latterly as his assistant. After the death of his chief in 1835 he was, on Schumacher's recommendation, (Steinheil, supported by Bessel, also competing for the office), appointed to succeed him as conservator of the observatory. In 1852 he became professor of astronomy at the university of Munich. He held both these posts till his death, which took place on the 6th August 1879. Though by no means a man of commanding genius, Lamont occupied a very important place among the scientific men of his day. As evidence of the universal respect in which he was held, it may be mentioned that he was a member of the Academies of Brussels, Upsala, and Prague, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and of many other learned corporations. His work bore for the most part on astronomy and magnetism. Among his contributions to the former may be noted his great star catalogue, and his determination of the mass of Uranus from observations of its satellites (Mem. Astron. Soc., 1838). His Handbuch des Erdmagnetismus (Berlin, 1849) is a standard work on the subject.
For fuller details concerning his published work the specialist may be referred to Poggendorff's Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch, or to the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Memoirs.
LA MOTTE FOUQUÉ. See FOUQUÉ.
LAMP. Technically a lamp is an apparatus in which to burn fluid combustible substances. Lamps are mostly intended for yielding light; but there are also special forms the purpose of which is to afford highly concentrated heat in a convenient and portable form. The substances used in lamps for lighting are of two classes – (1) fixed oils, and (2) fluid hydrocarbons obtained from the distillation of bituminous shales, &c. (paraffin oil), petroleum, and essential oils. The latter class may be distinguished as mineral oils. Till very recently fixed oils were almost exclusively used for lamps; but since the introduction of the cheaper and more convenient mineral oils, in the second half of the 19th century, the use of fixed oils has steadily decreased in all parts of the world.
There is scarcely any fixed or fatty oil which has not been used, more or less, for burning. Many oils are so used in the districts which produce them, although they hardly enter into ordinary commerce under the name of burning oils. The so-called fish oils (sperm, whale, and seal) were, in recent times, principal burning oils, and to a limited extent are still so employed. Of the vegetable oils of commerce, colza oil is the most extensively used as an illuminant, and after it come other rape oils, poppy oil, the lower qualities of olive oil, sesamum or gingelly oil, candle-nut oil, and ground-nut oil, all of which, however, are local or restricted in consumption. The suitability of fixed oils for burning purposes depends on their purity or freedom from foreign matters, and on their limpidity, or, what is in effect the same thing, the temperature at which they solidify. Thus cocoa-nut fat is consumed in ordinary
2 Among other crimes attributed to the species is that, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat., x. cap. 3), of having caused the death of the poet Æschylus, by dropping a tortoise on his bald head! In the Atlas range the food of this bird is said to consist chiefly of the Testudo mauritanica, which "it carries to some height in the air, and lets fall on a stone to break the shell" (Ibis, 1859, p. 177). It was the (
Greek characters) and (Greek characters) of Greek classical writers.
- ↑ Stories are told of its attacking human beings under such circumstances, and the present writer is not disinclined to believe that some of such stories may be true, though he is unable to refer to any that rest on testimony sufficient to dispel all doubt.
- ↑ 2
that the colouring-matter on the eggs (to be presently described) also arises from the same cause. This opinion has, however, been denied by several other naturalists, though none of them seem to have tried the experiment; while Mr Hume, who has (Scrap Book, p. 46), confirms Herr Meves's statement. In confinement, moreover, the bird has been observed always to lose or not to acquire its tawny tint.
