CARRANCHAS. 63 



carranchas had not only returned, but had so mutilated the skins of both 

 animals as to render them unfit for mounting purposes. The eyes and 

 tongues were considered the chief delicacies, for not only were the former 

 entirely gone when we returned, but an incision had in each instance been 

 made through the skin at the base of the mandibles and the tongue of 

 each detached and carried away, together with some of the hyoid bones, 

 thus rendering the specimens unsuitable for skeletal purposes. The de- 

 spatch and neatness with which the tongues of these animals were removed 

 were simply marvellous. 



If I had lost my first two guanacos, killed in Patagonia, I had at any 

 rate gained at first hand some very useful knowledge concerning the 

 habits of the carranchas, those scavengers of this part of the southern 

 hemisphere ; and since the carcasses were no longer of value as natural 

 history specimens, I resolved to see what more of interest they would be 

 the means of teaching me concerning the habits of these or other birds or 

 mammals. Repairing to a thicket of calafate bushes that grew on the 

 margin of the bed of shingle, where I could watch without attracting 

 attention, I took a comfortable position in order to observe the drama 

 which was being enacted on the surface of this bed of shingle, in the first 

 act of which I had been one of the principal participants, though now 

 reduced to the rank of a spectator. What an animated scene was trans- 

 ferred suddenly as if by magic to this particular spot, which under ordinary 

 circumstances is quite destitute of either animal or vegetable life. Car- 

 ranchas gathered about in great numbers, while several white and gray 

 gulls also appeared upon the scene. Many a spirited contest was waged 

 between these various aspirants for the more desirable portions. 

 Suddenly there was on all sides a scurrying, as these birds literally 

 tumbled over one another in their haste to get away, and looking up I 

 saw a great male condor come sailing down. His powerful wings were 

 fully extended, giving a total expanse of not less than nine feet. The 

 long primaries were motionless, seemed separated from one another by 

 an interval of about an inch and were each so distinct that I could with- 

 out difficulty have counted the series as he soared by. The pure white of 

 his shoulders and the delicate ruff was intensified by the deep black of the 

 back and under-body, while the iridescence of the neck and comb were 

 faintly distinguishable. He sailed straight as an arrow to the nearest car- 

 cass of the two guanacos, and on reaching a point directly over and a few 



