Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/133

 LAMMAS DAY LAMORICIERE 127 LAMMAS DAY, in the calendar, the first day of August, so called perhaps from the custom which formerly prevailed among the tenants who held lands of the cathedral church in York, England, of bringing a live lamb into the church at high mass on that day. Some anti- quaries derive the term from a Saxon word signifying loaf mass or bread mass, which was a feast of thanksgiving to God for the first fruits of the harvest. It is said to have been even recently a custom for tenants to bring in new wheat to their lord on or before that day. In the Salisbury manuals of the 15th century it is called benedictio novorum fructuum, and on this day before the reformation Peter's pence were paid in England. Dr. Johnson thinks it is a corruption of "latter math," meaning a second mowing of the grass. Val- lancey, in his Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, mentions that the 1st of August, Laithmas (pronounced La-ee-mas), was celebrated by the druids as the day of the oblation of grain. The proverb " at latter Lammas " is a euphe- mism for " never." LAMMERGEYER (Germ. Ldmmer, lambs, and G-eier, vulture), or BEARDED YULTUEE (gypae- Lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus). tus larlatus, Cuv.), the largest of European birds of prey. It is about 4 ft. long and 9 or 10 ft. in extent of wings ; the head and neck are completely clothed with feathers, and the cere is entirely hidden by projecting bristles ; the bill is long and strong, straight, laterally compressed, with the tip curved and sharp ; a tuft of stiff bristles projects forward like a beard from the base of the lower mandible ; the wings are long, the second and third quills nearly equal and longest ; tail lengthened and wedge-shaped; tarsi short and covered with feathers; toes moderate, the anterior ones united at the base by a membrane; claws curved, especially those of the inner and hind toes, and not well adapted for seizing and de- stroying prey. In the adult, the upper part 476 VOL. x. 9 of the head, the neck, and the under parts are whitish tinged with orange, deepest on the breast ; the wings and tail are grayish black, the wing coverts dashed with orange white ; the back deep brown; the beard and space including the eye and cere black; bill horn- colored. There is only one well characterized species, which inhabits the mountains of Eu- rope, Asia, and northern Africa, especially the Alps and Pyrenees. Lammergeyers are "seen usually in pairs; they feed on lambs, goats, chamois, &c., which they attack in such a manner as to cause them to leap over preci- pices, when they descend and devour the man- gled carcasses ; they also eat carrion. The nest is made upon inaccessible rocks, rarely upon lofty trees, several feet in diameter and of coarse materials, and the number of eggs is two or three. This bird plays the same part in the old world as the condor does in the new, and is very destructive to the flocks of the Al- pine valleys; stories are numerous, though not well authenticated, of its having carried off children. It is not abundant anywhere, and is rarely seen in Europe north of Germany. The African bird (G. meridionalis, Brehm) and the Asiatic (0. Himalayanus, Hutt.) are prob- ably only varieties of the bearded vulture. LAMOILLE, a N. county of Vermont, drained by Lamoille river ; area, 420 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 12,448. The surface is hilly, the Green mountains traversing the county in a N. E. and S. W. direction. There is some excellent soil in the valleys, but the land is chiefly adapted to grazing. The chief productions in 1870 were 18,257 bushels of wheat, 61,836 of Indian corn, 168,103 of oats, 333,185 of potatoes, 50,022 Ibs. of wool, 68,233 of hops, 657,892 of maple sugar, 984,378 of butter, 39,199 of cheese, and 41,570 tons of hay. There were 2,703 horses, 8,886 milch cows, 1,375 work- ing oxen, 4,701 other cattle, 9,377 sheep, and 2,480 swine; 8 manufactories of carriages, 1 of hones and whetstones, 1 of paper boxes, 10 of starch, 3 of tin, copper, and sheet-iron ware, 1 of woollen goods, 2 tanneries, and 9 saw mills. Capital, Hyde Park. LAMORICIERE, Christophe Louis Leon Jnchanlt de, a French general, born in Nantes, Feb. 6, 1806, died near Amiens, Sept. 10, 1865. He was educated at the polytechnic school of Paris, and at the academy for military engi- neers of Metz, on leaving which he joined the Algerian army and entered the corps of Zouaves at the time of its formation (Novem- ber, 1830). He was placed in 1833 at the head of the office (bureau arabe) organized by Gen. Avizard for facilitating the relations with the native population. He took an active part in the capture of Constantino. In 1839 he was recalled to Paris, but returned in 1840, and gained distinction at Mouzaia, in the Mascara expedition, and at Isly. The celebrity of the Zouaves was chiefly due to him. In Novem- ber, 1845, on the departure of Gen. Bugeaud, he became provisional governor general of Al-