NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 15 



July, about four o'clock in the afternoon, the head was 

 properly shaped, It was naked, and of a dark load 

 colour; and such was the hue of the just visible comb 

 (showing- that it was a male), and of the naked feet. 

 With these exceptions the young bird was covered with 

 a dirty white down, and looked healthy and vigorous. 

 On the evening of the day on which it was hatched it ate 

 part of the liver of a young rabbit. 



The young condor was fed five times each day with the 

 fleshy parts of young rabbits ; at each feed, a piece about 

 the size of a walnut was given, and it was very fond of 

 the liver. For the first ten days it was fed, and after 

 that time it pecked the food from the hand of the keeper. 

 It took no water, nor was any forced on it. 



I find, also, the following in my note-book : — 



July 18. — The young condor continues to thrive apace, 

 and the good hen that hatched the egg from which this 

 portentous chick sprung still remains in the elevated cage, 

 and seems very much attached to her charge. When 

 feeding, — for which purpose she quits the nestling only 

 twice a-day, hurrying back as if anxious to resume her 

 duty — she is fussy and fidgetty (if there be such words) 

 till her hasty meals are ended. The young condor's down 

 is now changed to a more grey hue, and the germs of the 

 true feathers begin to show themselves. The head and 

 neck have become blacker, and the budding excrescence 

 of the comb advances. The upper mandible of the bill 

 is slightly moveable. The lower extremities are become 

 darker and very stout, but as yet too weak to support the 

 bird's weight. 



May not this local, but no doubt natural weakness, 

 point to the sohition of the continued close attention of 

 the hen ? Her duty with her own eggs is to hatch 

 chickens that run very soon after they have left the egg- 

 shell, but till they are strong enough to be able to trust 

 to their lower extremities she keeps them close, ' hiving 



