]C)4> THE CONDOR. 



■when violently pressed with hunger, will make its at- 

 tack upon mankind. Fortunately the species of this 

 rapacious invader is scarce, or his depredations would 

 be terrible indeed ; for the Indians assert, that it will 

 carry off a deer or calf in its talons, with as much ease 

 as an eagle will a lamb. When their wings are ex- 

 tended, they are said to measure eighteen feet across; 

 though one, which was shot by a gentleman in Peru, 

 which he measured with the greatest exactitude, was 

 only twelve ; the great feathers upon the wings were a 

 beautiful shining black, measuring two feet four inches 

 in length ; those upon the breast and neck were of 

 a light brown, and those upon the back were rather of 

 a darker shade : a short down of the same colour co- 

 vered the head ; the eyes- were black, and surrounded 

 with a circle of reddish brown; the beak was about 

 four inches in length, hooked downwards, and the ex- 

 tremity white ; the thigh bone measured ten inches, 

 the leg five, the toes three, and the claws near one ; 

 and both the legs and toes were covered with large 

 scales. 



The condors generally confine themselves to their 

 native mountains, or occasionally fly to the sea shore 

 in search of a greater supply of food. It is supposed 

 that the rock, a bird which the Arabian writers have 

 given a most marvellous description of, is a species of 

 the condor ; and the great bird of Tarnapor, in the 

 East Indies, in all probability is of the same race. 



THE VULTURE AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



The first rank in the description of birds has been 

 given to the eagle, not from its being stronger or 

 larger than the vulture, but because it is more generous 

 and bol<U The eagle, unless violently pressed by fa- 



