THE GREATEST FLYING CREATURE. 655 



The Condor, and his cousin, the California Vulture, weigh about 

 the same as an Albatross.' 1 but the broad, rounded shape of their wings 

 gives them a much greater area, and this difference is, in turn, related 

 to differences in flight, for the great vultures soar high in the air. 

 while the Albatross skims the sea. randy rising to an elevation of L50 

 feet. 



It is to be noted, however, that the question of food has something 

 to do with the mode of flight, since the one bird seeks its food from 

 the surface of the water, while the other mounts aloft to scan the earth 

 in search of something eatable. 



Humboldt is credited with having seen a Condor soaring above the 

 summit of Chimborazo; but that this or any bird ever attains such an 

 altitude 11 is more than questionable, and Whymper, the most recent 

 and most careful observer, puts the range of the great Vulture at from 

 7,000 to 15,0()0 feet. 



'The Condor is said to attain a spread of wing of 15 feet, but no bird 

 of anything- like this size is preserved in any collection, and even LO 

 feet 6 inches from tip to tip may be looked upon as exceeding the 

 normal or average size. As the Albatross averages lo feet from tip 

 to tip. and is said by good observers to reach 1^! or even 14 feet.' 1 it 

 may be pretty safely set down as having the greatest stretch of wing 

 of any animal now living. Certainly the Albatross stands first in length 

 of wing bones, for these measure 8 feet 3 inches in the great wander- 

 ing Albatross, while the bones of a large Condor have a combined 

 length of but 6 feet l inch. Moreover, the Albatross inhabits the 

 wind-swept seas of the Southern Hemisphere, one of the stormiest 

 regions of the globe, and is continually called upon to wdeld its pinions 

 in the teeth of gales, and the successful manner in which this is done 

 calls forth the admiration of the observer. 



So far as carrying weight is concerned, the Trumpeter Swan stands 

 at or near the head of the list, for this bird attains a weight of 28 

 pounds, and carries this far and fast with a spread of wing of 8 feet. 

 Its mode of tfio-ht is entirely different from that of the Albatross, being 



a A Calif ornia Vulture, 1 year old. in the National Zoological Park, weighed IS.], 

 pi mnds. 



b Birds are known to migrate at a very considerable elevation, but it is believed 

 that none have as yet been recorded so high as 4 miles. The height of ( Ihimborazo is 

 L'0,4'0 feet. 



A line Condor from Patagonia had a spread of only 8 feet 8 inches, and the Cali- 

 fornia Condor in the National Zoological Park at Washington measures hut '.» feet 2\ 

 inches across the winu:s. lake most, large animals, Condors shrink wofully before a 

 tape line. 



d The largest ->\ four Albatrosses measured by the writer had a spread of wings of 

 only 10 feel "> inches, hut these were birds of 1 year and L' years old, and many of 

 the old birds seen w ere certainly much larger. The ship's carpenter claimed to have 

 measured a bird of 12 feet spread. 



