388 Scientific Intelligence — Zoology, 



mountainous deserts. On the inaccessible summits of the Cordillera 

 that bird builds its nest, and hatches its young in the months of April 

 and May. Few animals have attained so universal a celebrity as 

 the condor. That bird was known in Europe at a period when his 

 native land was numbered among those fabulous regions which are 

 regarded as the scenes of imaginary wonders. The most extrava- 

 gant accounts of the condor were written and read, and general cre- 

 dence was granted to every story which travellers brought from the 

 fairy land of gold and silver. It was only at the commencement of 

 the present century that Humboldt overthrew the extravagant no- 

 tions that previously prevailed respecting the size, strength, and 

 habits of that extraordinary bird. 



The full-grown condor measures, from the point of the beak to the 

 end of the tail, from four feet ten inches to five feet ; and from the 

 tip of one wing to the other, from twelve to thirteen feet. This 

 bird feeds chiefly on carrion ; it is only when impelled by hunger 

 that he seizes living animals, and even then only the small and de- 

 fenceless, such as the young of sheep, vicunas, aud llamas. He 

 cannot raise great weights with his feet, which, however, he uses to 

 aid the power of his beak. The principal strength of the condor lies 

 in his neck and in his feet ; yet he cannot, when flying, carry a 

 weight exceeding eight or ten pounds. All accounts of sheep and 

 calves being carried off* by condors are mere exaggerations. This 

 bird passes great part of the day in sleep, and hovers in quest of prey 

 chiefly in the morning and evening. Whilst soaring at a height be- 

 yond the reach of human eyes the sharp-sighted condor discerns his 

 prey on the level heights beneath him, and darts down upon it 

 with the swiftness of lightning. When a bait is laid it is curious 

 to observe the numbers of condors which assemble in a quarter of an 

 hour, in a spot near which not one had been previously visible. 

 These birds possess the senses of sight and smell in a singularly 

 powerful degree. 



Some old travellers, UUoa among others, have affirmed that the 

 plumage of the condor is invulnerable to a musket ball. This ab- 

 surdity is scarcely worthy of contradiction ; but it is nevertheless true 

 that the bird has a singular tenacity of life, and that it is seldom 

 killed by tire-arms, unless when shot in some vital part. Its plu- 

 mage, particularly on the wings, is very strong and thick. The 

 natives, therefore, seldom attempt to shoot the condor ; they usually 

 catch him by traps or by the lasso, or kill him by stones flung from 

 shngs, or by the Bolas. A curious method of capturing the condor 

 alive is practised in the province of Abancay. A fresh cow-hide, 

 with some fragments of flesh adhering to it, is spread out on one of 

 the level heights, and an Indian provided with ropes creeps beneath it, 

 whilst some others station themselves in ambush near the spot ready 

 to assist him. Presently a condor, attracted by the smell of the 

 flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide, and then the Indian, who is 



