6O2 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



it raises its neck, hitherto buried between its shoulders, and shaking 

 its wide wings, launches into space. The impetus of its own weight 

 at first carries it downwards, but soon recovering itself, it traverses 

 the aerial space with majestic ease and grandeur. Almost im- 

 perceptible movements of the wings are sufficient to carry it in 

 every direction ; at one moment it is skimming over the surface of 

 the ground, now it is up in the clouds, 3,000 feet above. The 

 Condor's power of vision is so great that it commands a view of 

 the plain beneath from the greatest altitudes, and although it is no 

 longer visible to denizens of earth, their slightest movements cannot 

 escape its piercing sight. When it views prey, partly folding its wings, 

 it descends with the rapidity of lightning. 



Although endowed with such powerful means of action, the Con- 

 dor never attacks living animals unless they are helpless from age 

 or enfeebled by disease. The stories of some travellers concerning 

 the boldness of this bird are not founded on fact. It is inaccurate 

 to state that the Condor will attack a man, as a child of ten years old, 

 armed with a stick, has been known to put it to flight. It has been 

 asserted that this bird will carry off lambs, young llamas, and even 

 children, but this statement will not hold good when subjected to 

 examination ; for the Condor, like all the vulture tribe, has short toes 

 and non-retractile claws, it is therefore radically impossible for it to 

 clutch and carry prey of any considerable weight. 



It is, however, a fact beyond all question that the Condor is in 

 the habit of prowling round flocks of sheep and cows ; and, like the 

 Caracara, will fall upon and devour newly-born animals. It accom- 

 panies the caravans which cross the plains of South America, and 

 when an unfortunate pack animal, worn out with fatigue and priva- 

 tion, sinks down exhausted, totally unable to proceed on the journey, 

 it becomes the prey of these winged banditti, which often commence 

 their meal before life has left the exhausted body. M. de Castelnau, 

 who has studied the Condor in the Andes, writes with regard to this 

 subject : 



" Travellers, who have sunk down upon the ground when utterly 

 worn-out with fatigue and suffering, have been known to be attacked, 

 and finally torn to pieces, by these ferocious birds, which pluck strips 

 of flesh off their victims, having first disabled them with blows of the 

 wing. The unfortunates may resist for a time, but ere long a few 

 blood-stained fragments are all that remain to announce to the 

 passer-by the horrible death suffered by those who preceded him on 

 these dangerous paths." 



The Condor possesses extraordinary tenacity of life. Humboldt 



