The Audubon Societies 



413 



With the Field-Agents 

 THE CONDOR AS A PET 



By -WILLIAM L. and IRENE FINLEY 

 Photographs by H. T. Bohlman and the authors 



HY should one not 

 like a Condor?" 

 I thought, as we 

 stroked the head 

 of the big bird, 

 and he nibbled my 

 fingers. We had 

 been given the 

 special privilege of 

 entering the cage 

 at the New York 

 Zoological Park 

 where the Cali- 

 fornia Condor 

 YUCCA lived. 



The Condor belongs to the Vulture 

 family, and to most persons a Vulture 

 would not make an appeal as a pet. To 

 many who visit the park the Condor may 



seem like an ordinary Turkey Buzzard, 

 although it is about twice the latter's size. 

 The white lining under its wings and its 

 size readily distinguish it from an ordi- 

 nary Buzzard. 



The California Condor is as large as 

 the Condor of the Andes, and when full- 

 grown will measure nine to eleven feet 

 from tip to tip of the wings when they are 

 spread. It differs from its South American 

 brother in dress. Its head and neck are 

 bare, and brilliantly colored in orange and 

 red. Its coat is plain brown or blackish. 

 It will weigh from twenty to twenty-five 

 pounds. The Condor never attacks liv- 

 ing creatures; it alwaj-s plays a waiting 

 game. It never carries food in its talons, 

 because its foot is not made like the Eagle's 

 for gripping and carrying pre\'. No bird is 



CHICK OF CALIFORNIA CONDOR IN THE DOWNY STAGE IN ITS HOME CAVE 



