37 



Genus SAECOEAMPHUS (Dxmeril.) 



SARCORAMPHUS GRYPHUS (Linnseus.) 



CONDOR VULTURE. 



The Condor, thongh bearing some general resemblance to 

 the preceding species, differs from it not only in colour and by 

 its much greater ■sa.^ (being the largest of all the birds of 

 prey) but is also distinguished by other characteristics, and 

 especially by that of the remarkable comb with which the head 

 of the adult male Condor is furnished, but which is wanting in 

 the female. This peculiarity, together with the comparative 

 non-development of the hind toe (by which the foot of the 

 Condor is rendered less prehensile than that of any other 

 Vultiu'e), marks this species as generically distinct fi'om all 

 others of the American sub-family. 



The Condor chiefly inhabits the chain of the Andes and 

 the countries on the Pacific coast of South America. It 

 is also found over the whole of Patagonia, extending as 

 far southward as the straits of Magellan, whilst its north- 

 ward range extends, at all events occasionally, to the south- 

 western parts of North America ; though I am unacquainted 

 with the precise limit of its most northerly occurrence. The 

 food of the Condor consists of every description of dead 

 carcase which it can discover in the moimtain districts, 

 which it usually frequents ; and when it descends to the 

 sea coast, as it frequently does, it also feeds greedily on 

 the remains of seals, on dead fish, and even on moUusca. 

 Condors have also been sometimes observed at sea feeding on 

 the floating carcases of dead whales. The Condor also destroys 

 and devours young and wounded animals of various descrip- 

 tions, and when pressed by hunger does not refuse excremen- 

 tory substances. The Condors usually associate in pairs, but 

 sometimes in flocks of from twenty to thirty, especially when 

 roosting, or when attracted by food. This species forms little 

 or no nest, but lays its two white eggs in the inaccessible 

 ledges and hollows of the mountain cliffs. When gorged with 



