BIRDS OF PREY. 



it from the garbage upon which they feed. Others {Cathartes) 

 arc migratory, and are found scattered over the various parts of 

 the American continent, the West Indies, and the Falkland Islands, 

 where they may be often seen at a great height, wheeling round 

 and round, and performing the most graceful evolutions. Here, 

 likewise, they devour dead carcases and ev^cry kind of filth during 

 the hot season ; while those that inhabit the sea-coasts and islands 

 subsist on dead seals and various kinds of refuse cast up by the 

 waves : small animals, however, and eggs, more especially those 

 of alligators, also form a portion of their food. 



The typical species, and the giant of the race, is — 



Fig. 9.— The Condor (Sarcoraii!f>hus Gryfihus). 



The Condor {Sarcoratnphus Gryphiis'*), generally regarded as the largest 

 of predaceous birds. The name Sarcoramphus is derived from the circum- 

 stance that the male, in addition to a conspicuous fleshy crest which extends 

 over the top of its head, has a lappet beneath its beak, somewhat resembling 

 the wattle of a barn-door fowl. The nostrils are pierced completely through 

 the fleshy cere from side to side ; the skin of the head and neck is quite 

 naked, and thrown into voluminous folds ; while round the base of the throat 

 is a frill of white feathers. 

 _ The condor has been rendered celebrated by exaggerated accounts of its 

 size and ferocity. It is, in reality, not much larger than the Liimmer Geyer of 

 Europe, which it also resembles in its habits. It frequents the highest moun- 

 tains of the Cordilleras of the Andes, in South America. Of all birds its flight 



Gryphus, a griffin, from ypvrros, grypos, having a hooked beak. 



