6 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



like other nestlings, but it then uttered no cry. 

 It made much use of the tongue in taking the food 

 and in deglutition. 



On my return from making these observations I 

 went to look at the old condors. Military bands 

 were playing, and the wind was very high. Both 

 birds were very much excited, the male espec- 

 ially. He spread and flapped his wings, pursuing 

 the female, as she walked backwards from him, 

 with his beak opposite and close to hers, and ges- 

 ticulating vehemently and oddly. 



The next entry is a sad one : 



July 21, 1846. The young condor, after thriv- 

 ing well to all appearance, died this morning. 

 The good hen, which had been most attentive to 

 it to the last, seemed to miss it much. The cry 

 of the young condor resembled the squeak of a rat, 

 and the dwelling-place of the hen and her charge 

 was infested by those predacious rodents. Some- 

 times they would squeak, and then the bereaved 

 foster-mother would approach the hole whence the 

 squeak proceeded, listen, and abide there clucking, 

 ras if in hope of seeing her charge come forth. 



In this case I was struck with the modification 

 of instinct, or rather of the adjunct of something 

 closely resembling a reasoning power, on the part 

 of the Hen. In general, as soon as the days of 

 'her incubation are fulfilled the hen leaves the nest, 

 if the eggs are addled, or have not been hatched 

 from some other cause. But here she continued 

 'to sit more than double the usual time without 

 moving except for the purpose of taking food. 

 'Might it not be that she felt that life was in prog- 

 ress under her, and that her cnogyr) (storge) pre- 

 vailed with her not to abandon the embryo till the 

 fulness of its time was come 1* 



Again I observed that she made no attempt to 

 -solicit the young condor to feed, as hens do with 



* " We cannot but Admire with Harvey," says Willugh- 

 by, " Borne of these natural instincts of birds, viz., that 

 almost all hen-birds should, with such diligence and pa- 

 tience, sit upon their nests night and day for a long time 

 i together, macerating and almost starving themselves to 

 death ; that they should expose themselves to such dan- 

 gers in defence of their eggs ; and if, being constrained, 

 they sometimes leave them a little while, with such ear- 

 nestness hasten back to them and cover them. Ducks and 

 ^eese, while they are absent for a little while, diligently 

 cover up their eggs with straw. With what courage and 

 magnanimity do even the most cowardly birds defend their 

 reggs, which sometimes are subventaneous and addle, or 

 not their own, or even artificial ones ! Stupendous in 

 truth is the love of birds to a dull and lifeless egg, and 

 which is not likely with the least profit or pleasure to 

 recompense so great pains and care. Who can but admire 

 .the passionate affection, or rather fury, of a clucking hen, 

 which cannot be extinguished unless she be drenched in 

 cold water 1 During this impetus of .mind, she neglects 

 .all things, and, as if she were in a frenzy, lets down her 

 wings, and bristles up her feathers, and walks up and 

 down reckless and querulous, puts other hens off their 

 nests, searching everywhere for eggs to sit upon ; neither 

 doth she give over till she hath either found eggs to sit or 

 chickens to bring up ; which she doth, with wonderful 

 zeal and passion, call together, cherish, feed, and defend. 

 What a pretty ridiculous spectacle is it to see a hen fol- 

 Jowing a bastard brood of young ducklings (which she 

 hath hatched for her own) swimming in the water ! How 

 she often compasses the place, sometimes venturing in, not 

 without danger, as far as she can wade, and calls upon 

 them, using all her art and industry to allure them to 

 her !' 



their own chickens. She seemed to regard it as 

 something incomprehensible, but belonging to her ; 

 and looked on with evident complacency when the 

 keeper took it out to feed it on raw flesh, receiv- 

 ing it, after its meal, under her wings with a 

 comfortable cluck. 



It is a well-known aphorism that the more per- 

 fect the order of the animal is, the larger is the 

 size of its offspring when it first enters into life. 

 Thus, as John Hunter observes, a new-born quad- 

 ruped is nearer to the size of the parents than a 

 bird just hatched, and a bird nearer than a fish. 

 Something may be, therefore, attributed to the 

 disproportioned bulk of the young condor; but 

 true as the maxim is, it does not follow that the 

 parent has the power of distinguishing size. In 

 birds such a power probably does not exist ; for 

 we know that the hedge-sparrow and oilier small 

 birds will go on feeding the enormous young 

 cuckoo till the poor benevolent dupes are almost 

 exhausted, before and after the intruder has shoul- 

 dered out their own eggs and little nestlings. 



The sigot of the helpless young condor could 

 not fail to raise reflections ' in the most unobserv- 

 ing. There was the comparatively minute form, 

 which, if its life had been spared, would have 

 been developed to gigantic proportions ; and that 

 little, feeble, plumeless wing, was formed to bear 

 quill-feathers from two to three feet in length. 

 These noble quills are used as pens in the Cordil- 

 lera ; and in this country I have seen them trans- 

 formed into floats for the angler, of a. size and 

 finish to satisfy the most fastidious dandy disciple 

 of good honest Izaak Walton. 



Two other raptorial birds come into the group, 

 though one of them, the California vulture, wants 

 the caruncle which distinguishes the condor. The 

 other is the king of the vultures.* The brilliant 

 colors of the head and neck of this last project it 

 upon the notice of the visitor who passes the place 

 of its confinement ; and there is reason for believ- 

 ing that the stories told of the oilier vultures, in 

 their free and natural state, standing respectfully 

 aloof till their king has finished his repast, are 

 not groundless, the respect being probably due to 

 the superior courage of the monarch. 



Of the condors, two males and one female are 

 now alive in the garden of the society ; but no 

 egg has been laid since that whose history we 

 have attempted to give was deposited. 



In the same garden the king vulture this looks 

 very like poor dear Theodore Hook's story of the 

 cock maccaw's laying eggs has laid, but it never 

 sat. The Chinese vulture has done the same, but 

 never attempted incubation. The wedge-tailed 

 eagle of New Holland, and the Kimmergeyer 

 sighing for her mate and her mountains, have 

 dropped eggs, but never attempted incubation. 

 The eagle owlf entered upon the business of the 

 continuation of the species with greater energy 

 and gravity. She laid and sat, but sat in vain ; 

 not an owlet rewarded her anxiety. 



* Or, King Vulture Sarooramphus Papa Vultur Pa- 

 pa, Linn, 

 t Strii Bubo. 



