2032 THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



that the bird was particularly addicted to old horse and young calf, and might after 

 feeding, be easily caught with the lasso. ' ' Darwin writes that the old birds gener- 

 ally live in pairs, but on the inland basaltic cliffs of Santa Cruz there is a spot which 

 used to be haunted by scores of these birds. ' ' On coming suddenly to the brow of 

 the precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these 

 grand birds start heavily from their resting place, and wheel away in majestic cir- 

 cles. Having gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to 

 their favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts the condor must to a 

 certain degree be considered as a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they 

 live altogether on the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more com- 

 monly happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in 

 Patagonia, that they do not on ordinary occasions extend their daily excursions to 

 any great distance from their regular sleeping places. The condors may often be 

 seen at a great height, soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles. On 

 some occasions I am sure that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the 

 Chileno countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the puma 

 devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly all rise together 

 the Chileno knows that it is the puma, which, watching the carcass, has sprung out 

 to drive away the robbers. Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently, 

 attack young goats and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they 

 pass over, to run out, and looking upward to bark violently." From the feeble 

 grasping power of their feet and especially the small size of the first toe, it is per- 

 fectly evident that condors cannot carry off animals of any size, and all the legends 

 of their flying away with children may be discredited. 



Frequently roosting in trees on the lower grounds during a considerable portion 

 of the year, in the breeding season condors retire to the most inaccessible parts of the 

 mountains or sea cliffs. Here during the summer months of November and Decem- 

 ber the female deposits two lar-ge white eggs on some rocky ledge, without any 

 attempt at making a nest. The young are clothed with gray down, and remain a 

 long time in the breeding place, where they have been observed as late as May. 

 Owing to their destructive propensities, condors are incessantly persecuted by the 

 natives, and have thus been greatly reduced in numbers in many districts. Mr. 

 Whymper states, however, that as many as a dozen may still be seen at a time in the 

 neighborhood of Chimborazo. The birds may either be lassoed when gorged, or 

 noosed while roosting in trees; while the Chilenos also capture them by surrounding 

 a carcass with a fence of sticks, in which an opening is left, and then galloping up 

 on horseback when the birds are gorged, and thus inclosing them. As a condor 

 requires a certain space in which to run before being able to rise from level ground, 

 the fence effectually prevents their escape. To shoot a condor on the wing requires 

 some stratagem, as at a distance of thirty or forty yards a charge of buckshot pro- 

 duces no effect. Mr. J. R. H. MacFarlane relates that he was able to draw the birds 

 within distance by tying up his dog and concealing himself behind a rock close by. 

 "Soon," he writes, "I perceived that the plaintive noises made by my dog had 

 produced an effect; gradually the condors passed and repassed in their majestic 

 flight, curiosity bringing them each time nearer and nearer, till at last I saw the 



