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and mostly dark-colored skin, developed into a wattle on the throat and another on 

 the chest. Horny brown at the base, the bill becomes ivory white at the tip, while 

 the feet are blackish, and the iris of the eye pale brown. In the smooth-headed and 

 smaller female the iris is red, and there are no wattles on the neck and chest. Ac- 

 cording to Darwin, the length 

 of the male is about forty- 

 eight inches, and the body is 



of immense size and weight, 

 while the span of the wings 

 probably reaches nine feet. A 

 smaller condor from Ecuador 

 and Quito has a uniformly- 

 brown plumage, and the 

 whole beak blackish. 



The condor is especially 

 characteristic of the Peruvian 

 and Chilian Andes, where it 

 is usually found in the zone 

 lying between nine thousand 



and sixteen thousand feet; its range extends, however, from Quito to the extreme 

 southern point of the continent, and in Patagonia it frequents the steep cliffs on the 

 coast. It has been often stated that these birds may be seen soaring round the highest 



CONDORS FLOCKING TO A DEAD GUANACO. 



