AVES. 299 



ncss or greater confidence in man than tins large and powerful condor." He 

 adds, that this individual possessed its full powers of flight, and would occa- 

 sionally soar to a great height, and, upon returning to the city, w^ould alight 

 upon a steeple or other elevated object. He continues : " It (the condor) ap- 

 pears to be frequently caught by the Peruvians and Chilians, and thus tamed. 

 I have several times seen birds nearly full grown ofl"ered for sale on the mole 

 or market-place at Callao, being confined only by strong strings passed through 

 their open nostrils." 



Bonaparte's specimen figured in his American Ornithology, vol. iv. pi. 22 

 (continuation of Wilson's Orn.), fully sustained the character given above, as 

 the following extract (vol. iv. p. 21) will show : " The individual represented 

 in our plate was remarkable for playfulness and a kind of stupid good-nature. 

 During Mr. Lawson's almost daily visits, for the purpose of measuring and 

 examining accurately every part for his engraving, it became so familiar and 

 well acquainted that it would pull the paper out of his hands, or take the 

 spectacles from his nose, so that Mr. Lawson" (the famous engraver of birds), 

 '' seduced by these blandishments, and forgetting its character in other re- 

 spects, did not hesitate to declare the condor the gentlest bird he ever 

 had to deal with." The best history of the condor extant is that in Bona- 

 parte's volume above cited ; it may be of interest to add that he introduces 

 it as a bird of North America, from the fiict that a bill and a quill feather 

 were brought home by the celebrated travellers Lewis and Clark, and 

 were supposed to have belonged to an individual killed in the Rocky 

 Mountains. No later travellers have observed it, hoAvever, though it 

 is quite probable it w'ill be found to inhabit that lofty range. The male 

 condor is said to be the larger, which, if a fact, is an isolated ex- 

 ception to the entire family of rapacious birds. (Proc. Acad. Philada., iv. 

 p. 159.) 



The King Vulture, SarcorampJms papa, Linn. {pi. 104, fg. 10), is a spe- 

 cies Avhich has beauty of colors remarkable in a bird of this family. It is 

 much inferior to the condor in size, and is very common in the lower countries 

 and the neighborhood of some of the cities of South America. It is indolent 

 and inactive in its habits. Bartram, the celebrated botanist, saw large num- 

 bers of a bird which he represents to be the king vulture, during his travels 

 in Florida. Singularly enough, he has not been confirmed by any subsequent 

 observer, and the fact of this bird ever having been seen in any of that part 

 of North America on the Atlantic Ocean yet rests entirely upon his authority. 

 It is, however, known to inhabit Yucatan and other countries of Central 

 America. 



The genus Cathartes is composed of several species, some of which in- 

 habit North and others South America. The most remarkable is the Cali- 

 fornian Vulture (C Californiatttis, Shaw), which appears to be peculiar 

 to the Pacific coast of North America. It is a large species, with the plu- 

 mage entirely black, and is the bird alluded to as the " large black vulture" 

 by travellers in those countries. It feeds upon carrion and dead fish, 

 the latter of which it procures abundantly on the shores of the Columbia 

 and other rivers. The nest is said to be built in the immense 



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