3i8 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR. 



AN ALMOST EXTINCT BIRD. 



special CorresponJence of the Neijj York Evening Post. 



Washington, November 14. — One of the 

 recent acquisitions at the New York Zoologi- 

 cal Park was the subject which attracted the 

 attention and evident interest of the delegates 

 attending the twenty-fourth annual congress 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union at to- 

 day's session. This was the California condor, 

 "General," one of the five specimens of this 

 almost extinct bird which naturalists have been 

 able to capture and nurture in captivity. The 

 other four condors are in the Government zo- 

 ological collection in Rock Creek Park here. 

 The rarity of the bird and the fact that the de- 

 scription of it was given by a young man who 

 had spent three entire months in the San Ber- 

 nardino Mountains in southern California in 

 quest of the nest from which "General" came 

 into the world, caused the audience of several 

 hundred bird lovers to follow closely every 

 point of the description. 



The speaker was William L. Finley, of Port- 

 land, Ore., who had carried his long search to 

 a successful conclusion, and had then trained 

 the captive. It was on March 10, last, that he 

 found a condor nest in the California moun- 

 tains, with a single glossy egg and an adult 

 condor sitting close by. For twelve days he 

 and his companion watched the nest. After 

 that time their vigil was rewarded by the dis- 

 coverv that a voung condor had been born. 



How the two 

 )oung men made 

 their first investi- 

 gation was told to 

 the Evening Post's 

 correspondent this 

 afternoon by Mr. 

 Finley. He said: 



"A ridge, just 

 wide enough for a 

 path, dropped steep 

 into the gorge on 

 both sides. For 

 two miles we 

 wound around a 

 shaky trail, tracing 

 the top rim of the 

 basin. A great 

 slab of gray stone 

 barred the door- 

 way of the con- 

 dor's home, and 

 protected it from 

 storms. Up a 

 steep, narrow 

 pocket we scram- 

 bled, clinging to the scrubby bushes and the 

 snaky roots, washed bare by rain, until we 

 could peer through a crack in the rocks. An un- 

 canny feeling went through me as I made out 

 indistinctly the big black body of the condor, 

 with its orange colored head and beady eyes 

 watching me intently." 



As Mr. Finley's object was not merely to 

 capture a specimen for a zoological collection 

 and thus win one of the large rewards offered, 

 but as his stronger wish was to study the habits 

 of the bird in its mountain home, the nest was 

 not then disturbed. Instead, the watchers 

 quietly retired and made periodic trips back 

 to the place. Eight such trips were made 

 between March 10 and July 5. The many ob- 

 servations made during this time yielded much 

 information of great scientific value, and as 

 soon as the news of the discovery became 

 known attracted the attention of Director 

 Hornaday in New York. It was due to the lat- 

 ter's prompt avowal of the importance of this 

 work that the two young men continued their 

 eft'oris and kept a detailed record of their ex- 

 periences. 



It was in the beginning of July, when the 

 young condor was no days old, that Mr. Fin- 

 ley took the bird from its nest and carried it 

 with him to his home in Portland. It weighed 

 then fifteen and one-half pounds. In August, 

 the condor was taken to a summer camp up tlie 



