50 'iiiK i-i ArHi;ui:i) tkiuks. 



Tlie condor is peculiar to the iininense cliaiu of the Andes, tlie mountain range which 

 rims along the whole west coast of South America ; covering with its elevations, declivi- 

 ties, and valleys, ahout a sixth part of that continent. Some summits attain to between 

 15,000 tad l(i,000 feet above the level of the sea. Whenever Humboldt and his com- 

 panion, Bonpland, were led, in the course of their botanical excursions, to the limits of 

 perpetual snows, they were always surrounded by condors, three or four appearing on the 

 points of the rocks. The birds exhibited no distrust, suffered themsch'cs to be approached 

 within a short distance, and seemed to have no inclination to make an attack. 



Humboldt declares that, after the strictest research, he never heard a single example 

 quoted of a condor lun-ing carried oft' a child, though its so doing has often beeu 

 rumoured. Nothing is more common than to see the little children of the Indians sleep- 

 ing in the open air, while their fathers ai-e engaged in collcetiTig the snow to sell it in 

 the neighboiuing towns, yet " who," he asks, " has ever heard of any of those children, 

 thus surrounded by condors, having been attacked or killed ? " De la Condamine, 

 a writer of tlie highest credibility, relates that the Indians present to the condor, by way 

 of bait, the figure of an infant, ibrmed of very viscous clay, on which it immediately 

 darts w^ith a rapid flight, and in which its talons become so engaged that it is unable to 

 extricate them. But that gentleman prudently adds the qualifying terms, " en pretend." 

 The beak and talons of the condor are doubtless of the most enormous force ; yet the 

 Indians who inhabit the Andes of Quito are imanimous in affirming tliat this liird is not 

 dangerous to man. 



Preferring, as it does, the mountain solitudes, the condor selects small gronjis of rocks, 

 and platforms towering to an immense height, which bear the names in the Inca lan- 

 guage of watch-towers, as its brooding-place. Yet, though of all animals it is the one that 

 removes to the greatest distanc'c from the surface of the globe, hunger will sometimes 

 induce it to descend into the plains, and more especially into those which border on the 

 mighty chain of the Andes. Condors are to be seen even on the shores of the Soutlura 

 Ocean, especially in the cold and temporal e latitudes of Chili, ^\'liere the range of the 

 Andes may be almost said to border on the margin of the Pacific. But it only sojourns 

 for a few hours, in these lower regions ; sj^ccdily does it wing its flight tn the mountain 

 solitudes, and respire again a highly rarifiod atmosphere. 



Tlumboldt was assured that tlie condor builds no nest; depositing its eggs on tlie 

 naked rock, without surrounding them even ■«'itli straw or leaves. The eggs are said to 

 be altogether wliitc, and from three to four inches in length. The female is reported to 

 remain with her offspring for the space of an entire year. The condor is remarkable for 

 strength and audacity. Two of tlicm will dart on the deer of the Andes, the puma, the 

 vicunna, and the guanaco. They will even attack a heifer ; pursuing it for a long while, 

 wounding it with their beak and talons, until tlie animal, breathless and overwhelmed 

 with fatigue, thrusts out its tongue, bdllowing. The condor then seizes the toijgue, 

 which is a favourite morsel, and the victim beneath its assault sinks to the eartii and 

 sloAvly expires. In the savannahs of Antisana, bulls are constantly fnuinl wliiili have 

 been wounded in the back by condors. 



Satiated witli food, the condor remains perched on the suniniil nf th(> rock, with an air 

 of sombi'c and sinister gravity, and will not give liimself the trouble to escape the chase. 

 But stimulated with hunger, he soars to a prodigious lieight, and hovers in the air, that 

 he may survey the vast extent of country, some part of which is to yield his next 

 ban<|uot. At such times the sky will be ob.served to be pcciiliai'ly serene, as if the condor 

 availed himself of the transparency of the atmosphere for his far-extended survey, and 

 knew that in duskier weather it would bo concealed from his piercing view. 



Tlie fiillowiiig adventure is given us by Sii- Fi'anris Head: — "In riding along the 

 plain, I passed a dead horse, about which were forty or fifty condors ; many of them were 



