HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



305 



have no room to go into its history, and it is not 

 necessary, as it may be found any where, since Hum- 

 boldt brought it within reason and reasonable dimen 

 sions. It is only a little larger than the mountain 

 vulture of the Alps, and its habits are nearly the 

 same ; but the appendages to the naked part of the 

 bird bring it more within the present section. The 

 color is. blackish, with great part of the wings ash, 

 and the collar on the neck silky and white. The male 

 has one large carunculated membrane above the bill, 

 and another below; but these are wanting in the 

 female. The female is nearly of a uniform grayish 

 brown ; and the young in their first plumage are ash 

 brown, and without the collar of feathers upon the 

 neck. Even after all the exaggerations are discounted, 

 the Condor is a bird of no small interest. It is the 

 most lofty-dwelling bird of the whole class ; and the 

 regions of storm and earthquake which it inhabits are 

 of themselves well calculated to give it a very peculiar 

 importance. 



Cathartus are the vultures of North America, some 

 of which have occasionally been confounded with the 

 Condor ; and, though none of them are equal to that 

 bird in story, they rival, if not exceed it, in size and 

 in power. We cannot go into the details of all the 

 species, of which there are several ; and therefore we 

 shall give a few particulars of one as a specimen. 



C alif or nian Vulture, (Cathartus vulturinus.) This 

 is a very large bird, about four feet and a half in 

 length, and nearly ten feet in the stretch of the wings. 

 It inhabits North America to the westward of the 

 Stony Mountains, and is particularly abundant in the 

 lower valley of the Columbia. It is a woodland bird, 

 and does not appear to inhabit very high latitudes, 

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