BIRDS OF PREY AND OWLS 



465 



flut 



. P. DW, T.Z.S., R,g,nt's Park 



KING-VULTURE 



off my eyes ; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, 



descending and ascending, without giving a single flap." One 



which he shot measured, from tip to tip of the fully expanded 



wings, 8^ feet. 



The condor, like its smaller relatives, hunts by sight, and 



not, as was at one time believed, by smell, feeding on the dead 



bodies of guanacos which have died a natural death or been 



killed by pumas, and upon other dead animals. In the 



neighbourhood where sheep and goats are kept, they are 



much dreaded, as they will attack the young kids and lambs. 



The flock-owners on this account wage constant war against 



them, capturing them by enclosing a carcase within a narrow 



space, and when the condors are gorged galloping up on 



horseback and killing them, for when this bird has not space 



to run it cannot rise from the ground. Sometimes the trees 



on which they roost are marked, and when night falls a man 



climbs the tree and captures them with a noose, for they are 



very heavy sleepers. 



The condor ranges from the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, 



and Chili southwards to the Rio Negro on the east coast 



of Patagonia. It lays two large white eggs on a shelf of 



bare rock projecting from precipitous cliffs, and the young 



are said to be unable to fly till after they are a year old. 



As will be seen in the photographs, the head of the male is 



crowned by a bare, fleshy caruncle, which, like the surrounding 



bare skin, is of a dull reddish colour : lower down the neck is 



a frill of pure white down, which forms a conspicuous contrast 



with the glossy black plumage of the rest of the body and wings. 



The KlNG-VULTURE is a much smaller bird, but the bare parts of the head are much more 



brilliantly, even gaudily 

 coloured, the combinations 

 being orange, purple, and 

 crimson. The plumage is 

 creamy white and black. It 

 is a comparatively rare bird, 

 and but little is known con- 

 cerning its breeding habits. 

 The female is much more 

 soberly clad than her mate. 

 The king-vulture has a more 

 northerly range than the 

 condor, extending from Brazil 

 to Mexico, Texas, and Florida. 

 The commonest of the 

 New World vultures is the 

 TURKEY-BUZZARD, which is 

 found over the whole of 

 temperate and tropical 

 America. Of the four species 



fhat by W. f. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Rtfint'i Parl r 



commonly known as Turkey- 

 BLACK VULTURES buzzards, three are exclusively 



When disturbed, these^trds eject foul-smelling matter South American the fourth 



59 



The jicshy crest on the beak is developed in 

 the females as ivcll as in the males 



