388 



CON DOR CON DORC ET. 



lammergeyer of the Alps ever carried off a child, 

 Ihoqgh M currently accused of such theft, but that 

 the possibility of the evil has led to the belief of its 

 actual existence. The condor is not known to build 

 a nest, but is said to deposit its eggs on the naked 

 rocks. The eggs are reported to l>e altogether 

 white, and three or four inches long. \Vlien hatched, 

 the female is said to remain with the young for a 

 whole year, in order to provide them with food, and 

 to teach them to supply themselves. In relation to 

 all these points, satisfactory information still remains 

 to be desired. We have seen that hunger impels 

 the condors to descend to the plains, and it is also 

 true, that they are occasionally seen even on the 

 shores of the southern ocean, in the cold and temper- 

 ate regions of Chile, where the Andes so closely ap- 

 proach the shores of the Pacific. Their sojourn, 

 however, in such situations, is but for a short time, 

 as they seem to require a much cooler and more 

 highly ra rifled air, and prefer those lofty solitudes 

 \viicre the barometer does not rise higher than six- 

 teen degrees. When they descend to the plains, 

 they alight on the ground, rather than upon trees or 

 other projections, as the straightness of their toes 

 renders the first mentioned situation most eligible. 

 Humboldt saw the condor only in New Grenada, 

 Quito, and Peru, but was informed that it follows the 

 chain of the Andes from the equator to the seventh 

 degree of north latitude, into the province of Antio- 

 quia. There is now no doubt of its appearing even 

 in Mexico, and the south-western territory of the 

 United States. 



The head of the male condor is furnished with a 

 sort of cartilaginous crest, of an oblong figure, wrin- 

 kled, and quite slender, resting upon the forehead 

 and hinder part of the beak, for about a fourth of its 

 length ; at the base of the bill it is free. The fe- 

 male is destitute of this crest. The skin of the head, 

 in the male, forms folds behind the eye, which de- 

 scend towards the neck, and terminate in a flabby, 

 dilatable or erectile membrane. The structure of 

 the crest is altogether peculiar , bearing very little 

 resemblance to the cock's comb, or the wattles of a 

 turkey. The auricular orifice is of considerable 

 size, but concealed by folds of the temporal 

 membrane. The eye, which is peculiarly elongat- 

 ed, and farther distant from the beak than the 

 eagle's, is of a purple hue, and very brilliant. The 

 neck is uniformly marked by parallel longitudinal 

 wrinkles, though the membrane is not so flabby as 

 that covering the throat, which appear to be caused 

 by the frequent habit of drawing the neck down- 

 wards, to conceal or warm it within the collar or 

 hood. The collar, in both sexes, is a fine silken 

 down, forming a white band between the naked part 

 of the neck and beginning of the true feathers, and 

 is rather more than two inches broad, not entirely 

 surrounding the neck, but leaving a very narrow 

 naked space in front. The rest of the surface, the 

 back, wings, and tail, are of a slightly grayish-black, 

 though sometimes they are brilliantly black ; the 

 feathers are triangular, and placed over each other 

 tile-wise. Humboldt never saw male condors with 

 white hacks, though descriptions of such have been 

 given by Molina and others. The primaries are 

 black ; the secondaries, in both sexes, are exteriorly 

 edged with white. The wing coverts, however, offer 

 the best distinction of the sexes, being grayish-black 

 in the female, while, in the male, their tips, and even 

 lialf of the shafts, are white, so that his wings are 

 ornamented with beautiful white spots. The tail is 

 blackish, wedge-shaped, rather short, and contains 

 twelve featfiers. The feet are very robust, and of an 

 ashen blue colour, marked with white wrinkles. The 

 claws are blackish, very long, and but slightly 



hooked. The four toes are unitt*! by an obvious but 

 delicate membrane ; the fourth is the smallest, and 

 has the most crooked claw. The following are the 

 dimensions of the largest male condor described by 

 Humboldt (it was killed on the eastern declivity of 

 Chimlwrazo) : length, from tip of the beak to the 

 tip of the tail, three feet three inches two lines 

 (French) ; height, when perched, with the neck mo- 

 derately extended, two feet eight inches ; entire 

 length of head and beak six inches eleven lines ; beak 

 alone, two inches nine lines ; breadth of beak closed 

 one inch two lines ; envergure, or from the tip of one 

 extended wing to the other, eight feet nine inches ; 

 breadtli of leg bone, eleven lines ; length of longest 

 toe, without the claw, three inches eleven lines; 

 claw, two inches ; length of two lateral toes, with 

 their claws, three inches seven lines ; claw, 2 inches 

 three lines ; shortest toe and claw, one inch eight 

 lines. From this measurement, it is obvious that the 

 condor does not exceed the average size of the largest 

 European vulture ; and Humboldt states that he never 

 saw a condor whose envergure measured more 

 than nine French feet. He was also assured, by 

 very credible inhabitants of the country, that they 

 never saw one whose envergure was greater tlian 

 eleven feet. He finally concludes tliat fourteen feet 

 is about the maximum size to which the largest con- 

 dor would attain. Two or three specimens of the 

 condor have been exhibited in Philadelphia and New 

 York within the last seven years, and were evidently 

 not full grown birds ; yet the envergure of the largest 

 of them measured eleven English feet. The envergure 

 of the specimen belonging to the Leverian museum, 

 described by Dr Shaw, measured fourteen English 

 feet. Notwithstanding, therefore, what is said by 

 Humboldt, of the general correspondence hi size of 

 the Alpine lammergeyer and the condor of the Andes, 

 we cannot avoid believing that a full grown individu- 

 al of the latter species would be much more than a 

 match, in every respect, for any European species. 

 The condor is peculiarly tenacious of life, and has 

 been observed, after having been hung for a consid- 

 erable time by the neck, in a noose, to rise and walk 

 away quickly when taken down for dead, and to re- 

 ceive several pistol bullets in its body without ap- 

 pearing greatly injured. The great size and strength 

 of its plumage defends its body to a considerable de- 

 gree from the effects of shot. It is easily killed 

 when shot, or struck sufficiently hard, about the 

 head. 



CONDORCANQUI, JOSEPH GABRIEL ; an Ameri- 

 can Spaniard, who, having been ill treated by a ma- 

 gistrate, and sustained an act of injustice from the 

 audiencia of Lima, attempted to redress his own 

 grievances, and the oppressions of the Indians, by 

 inciting them to insurrection against the Spanish 

 government in 1780. He was an artful and intrepid 

 man ; and, with a view to conciliate the Indians, he 

 assumed the name of Tupac-Amaru, one of the an- 

 cient incas, professing a design to restore the ancient 

 dynasty of Manco-Capac in Peru, a project which 

 had been entertained by Sir W alter Raleigh, in the 

 reign of queen Elizabeth. The scheme was, at first, 

 very successful. The spirit of revolt extended far 

 and wide into the interior of the country ; the con- 

 test lasted three years, and the pretended Tupac- 

 Amaru was hailed inca of Peru. His conduct, how- 

 ever, proved obnoxious to the Spanish settlers, and 

 the efforts of the Indians were too feeble and desul- 

 tory to support so gigantic an undertaking. Troops 

 were sent against him, and, being deserted by his 

 followers, he was taken and put to deatk. 



CONDORCET, MARIE JEAN NICOLAS CARITAL, 

 marquis de ; an eminent French writer, was born 

 September 17, 1743, at Ribemont, near St Quentin, 





