Narrative
In the Bernese Oberland, a child of three years old, called Anna Zurbuchen, had been taken up by her parents to the haymaking in the mountain, and set down on the ground close to a shed. The child soon fell asleep, and, covering her face with a large straw hat, the father went to his work. When he shortly afterwards returned with a bundle of hay,
his little girl was nowhere to be found. Long and vainly he searched for her; but meanwhile Henry Michel, a peasant of TJntersee, was proceeding by an unfrequented path to the mountain stream, when suddenly he heard the cry of a child. Following the direction of the sound, he perceived a lammergeier take flight from a neighbouring eminence, and hang for some time over the abyss. He hastened to the spot, and found the child on the extreme edge of the precipice. Only her left arm and hand, by which she had been seized, were injured, but she had lost cap, shoes, and stockings in her passage through the air.
Henceforward she went by the name of "Geier-Anni" (Vulture Annie), and was living at an advanced age a few years since. The story ia recorded in the church register of Habchern.
--Sketches of Nature in the Apls
By Friedrich von Tschudi
Curious tales have been related of the marvellous escape from death of children who had been seized by this great bird, and borne off to its eyrie in the hills. One of the best authenticated instances of this kind is the case of Anna Zurbuchen. This child was born in 1760, in the Bernese Oberland. Being laid down to sleep when but three years old, whilst her parents went about their avocations, she was seized by a Lammergeier, and borne to a cliff. A man passing by heard a child scream, and, on looking in the direction of the cry, saw a Bearded Vulture soar into the air, and noted the child lying on the verge of a precipice. It was speedily rescued from its dangerous situation, and was found to be uninjured save on the left arm and hand where the bird had seized it. The vulture had borne the child at least 1,400 paces.
--Wild Animals and Birds
By Andrew Wilson