38 



food, the Condor finds some difficulty in its first rising into the 

 air ; so much so, indeed, that on such occasions it is not un- 

 frequently lassoed or otherwise captured. Many of the ancient 

 aboriginal inliabitants of those countries in which the Condor 

 is most plentifully found, apjjear by the remains of their sculp- 

 tm-ed monuments and, by the accounts of early Spanish 

 writers, to have associated this bird with the worship of the 

 Sun, and to have worn Condor's wings on theii- shoulders at 

 their festivals in honoiu' of that luminary, as their descendants 

 are said still to do when they take part in certain religious pro- 

 cessions connected with the ceremonial of the Eoman Catholic 

 Church. 



The legs and feet of the Condor are black, with a slight 

 admixtiu-e of grey ; the cere is of a similar tint, as are the 

 naked skin on the head and neck, and the comb of the male 

 bird. The blackish tint of the head and neck is, however, 

 slightly varied by occasional traces of a livid flesh colour, espe- 

 cially about the lower part of the neck. The irides in the adult 

 male are of a pale brown, and in the adult female of a beautiful 

 carbuncle-red ; a singular difference between the sexes, and 

 one which, as far as I know, has no parallel in any other 

 Vulture. The irides in the young birds of both sexes are of a 

 dark broAvn. 



In Temminck's " Planches Coloriees" three representa- 

 tions are given of this species: pi. 133 contains the figure of 

 the adult male, pi. 494 the head and neck of the same on a 

 larger scale, and pi. 408 the figure of an immature female. 



The immature male is figured in Bonaparte's " American 

 Ornithology," vol. 4, pi. 1, and the adult female in Shaw's 

 " General Zoology, Aves," pi, 3. 



SPECIMENS OF SARCORAMPHUS GRTPHUS. 



No. 1. S adult Western South America (G) Mr. Warwick. 



No. 2. $ adult Ditto (G) Ditto. 



No. 3. J immature... Presented by the Directors of the 



Crystal Palace Company. 

 No. 4. ? immature ... (G) Mr. Lcadbeater. 



