2Jb SANTA CRUZ, PATAGONIA. 



carcass on a level piece of ground, within an en- 

 closure of sticks, with an opening, and when the 

 condors are goi-ged, to gallop up on horseback to 

 the entrance, and thus enclose them ; for when this 

 bird has not space to run, it cannot give its body- 

 sufficient momentum to rise from the ground. The 

 second method is to mark the trees in which, fre- 

 quently to the number of five or six together, they 

 roost, and then at night to climb uj^ and noose them. 

 They are such heavy sleepers, as I have myself 

 witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At Valpa- 

 raiso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, 

 but the common price is eight or ten shillings. 

 One which I saw brought in had been tied with 

 rope, and was much injured ; yet the moment the 

 line was cut by which its bill was secured, although 

 surrounded by people, it began ravenously to tear 

 a piece of can-ion. In a garden at the same place 

 between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They 

 were fed only once a week, but they appeared in 

 pretty good health.* The Chileno countrymen as- 

 sert that the condor will live, and retain its vigour, 

 between five and six weeks without eating : I can- 

 not answer for the truth of this, but it is a cruel ex- 

 periment, which very likely has been tried. 



When an animal is killed in the country, it is well 

 known that the condors, like other carrion-vultures, 

 soon gain intelligence of it, and congregate in an 

 inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not 

 be overlooked that the birds have discovered their 

 prey, and have picked the skeleton clean, before the 

 flesh is in the least degree tainted. Remembering 

 the experiments of M. Audubon on the little smell- 

 ing powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above- 



* I noticed that several hours before any one of the condors 

 died, all the lice with which it was infested crawled to the out- 

 side feathers. I was assured that this always happened. 



