NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CONDOR. 101 



either sex. Living in solitary places, having no other enemy than man, 

 who busies himself very little in its destruction, it is probable that the 

 condor attains a very advanced age. The bird does not, however, ap- 

 pear to multiply much ; I have not, at any time, seen more than five or 

 six at once ; but it seems to be a more numerous species than the 

 king of the vultures (Vultur Papa), which, I think, is the least nume- 

 rous of all the American birds of prey. 



I have been assured that the condor does not build a nest. It lays 

 its eggs upon the bare rock, without even surrounding them with straw, 

 nor with the hairy leaves of the Espeletia frailexon, the only plant 

 which grows near the perpetual snows, and which has a resemblance 

 to our shepherd's club ( Verbascum thapsus). I have been assured that 

 the eggs are quite white, and three or four inches long. It is also said 

 that the female remains with the young ones for the space of a whole 

 year. When the condor descends to the plains, he prefers to rest 

 upon the earth. He does not build upon the branches of trees, as the 

 zamura or gallinazo (Vultur aura) does. The condor, also, has very 

 straight claws. I make this observation, in corroboration of a passage 

 in Aristotle, in which that profound naturalist says that those birds of 

 prey which have curved claws, do not like to place themselves upon 

 rocks.* 



The manners of the condors are the same as those of the lamnier- 

 geyer of the Alps. If he does not surpass the latter in size, he seems 

 at least to be superior in strength and boldness. A couple of condors 

 will attack not only the stag of the Andes, the puma, the vicuna, or 

 the guanaco, but even the cow : they pursue it so long, wounding it 

 with their talons or beaks, that the animal, breathless and exhausted, 

 bellowing, hangs out its tongue. The condor than seizes it by the 

 tongue, of which it is very fond, and tears out its eyes ; while stretched 

 upon the earth it slowly expires. In the province of Quito, the mis- 

 chief which the condors do to cattle, particularly to the flocks of sheep 

 and oxen, is very considerable. I have been told that in the savannas 

 of Antisani, 2101 toises above the level of the sea, bulls are frequently 

 found wounded in the back by condors who have not been able to bear 

 them off. This recals to my mind the missions of the Upper Oroonoko, 

 where the large bats do so much damage by wounding the oxen, that 

 it forms one of the principal objections to the establishment of farms 

 in that country. 



* Aristotelis Historia Animalium, ix. 22. ed. Casaub. p. 575. 



