AVES CATHARTID^. 539 



lower part of the cliff by dint of planting my feet in the numerous water- 

 worn g'ulleys in the hard clay. I had almost attained to within range of 

 those on the shelf, when they slowly flapped their great wings and rose 

 into the air, joining their companions, the whole party now soaring round 

 in a circle above my head, gazing at me with malevolent faces, their whole 

 aspect recalling to me the mythical descriptions of griffins. Although, in 

 common with the rest of the tribe, the condor [Sarcoratnphus Papa) is dis- 

 figured by a naked head, covered with mottled skin, it is truly a magnificent 

 bird when seen in the wild condition and on the wing ; and one cannot 

 be surprised that the most exaggerated accounts were given by the older 

 travelers of the dimensions to which it attains — as much as eighteen feet 

 having been sometimes assigned to the expanse of the wing. It is widely 

 distributed over the western side of the South American continent, the 

 Cordillera appearing to constitute its headquarters. On the eastern side, 

 on the other hand, it has a much more limited range — a steep cliff near 

 the mouth of the Rio Negro, according to Mr. Darwin, being its northern 

 limit on the Patagonian coast. He mentions Port Desire and the mouth 

 of the Santa Cruz River, on the same coast, as localities where it is met 

 with further south ; and we noticed it both at Port Gallegos and in several 

 localities in the eastern part of the Strait of Magellan, almost invariably in 

 the neighborhood of steep cliffs." 



Hudson's "Idle Days in Patagonia" has the following (pp. 56-57): "A 

 slight adventure I had with a condor, the only bird of that species I met 

 with in Patagonia, will give some idea of the height of this sheer wall of 

 rock. I was riding with a friend along the cliff when the majestic bird 

 appeared, and swooping downwards hovered at a height of forty feet above 

 our heads. My companion raised his gun and fired, and we heard the 

 shot rattle loudly on the stiff quills of the broad motionless wings. There 

 is no doubt that some of the shot entered its flesh, as it quickly swept 

 down over the edge of the cliff and disappeared from our sight. We got 

 off our horses, and crawling to the edge of the dreadful cliff looked down, 

 but could see nothing of the bird. Remounting we rode on for a little 

 over a mile, until coming to the end of the cliff we went down under it 

 and galloped back over the narrow strip of beach which appears at low 

 tide. Arrived at the spot where the bird had been lost we caught sight of 

 it once more, perched at the mouth of a small cavity in the face of the 

 rocky wall near the summit, and looking at that height no bigger than a 



