1834I CAPTURING THE CONDOR, 187 



live in pairs ; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the 

 Santa Cruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually 

 haunt On coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, 

 it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty 

 of these great birds start heavily from their resting-place, 

 and wheel away in majestic circles. From the quantity of 

 dung on the rocks, they must long have frequented this 

 cliff for roosting and breeding. Having gorged themselves 

 with carrion on the plains below, they retire to these 

 favourite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, 

 the condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be 

 considered as a gregarious bird. In this part of the country 

 they live altogether on the guar acos which have died a 

 natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been 

 killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in 

 Patagonia, that they do not on ordinary occasions extend 

 their daily excursions to any great distance from their 

 regular sleeping places. 



The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, 

 soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles. 

 On some occasions 1 am sure that they do this only for 

 pleasure, but on others, the Chileno countryman tells you 

 that they are watching a dying animal, or the puma 

 devouring Its prey. If the condors glide down, and then 

 suddenly all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the 

 puma which, watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive 

 away the robbers. Besides feeding on carrion, the condors 

 frequently attack young goats and lambs ; and the shepherd 

 dogs are trained, whenever they pass over, to run out, and 

 looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos destroy 

 and catch numbers. Two methods are used ; one Is to 

 place a carcass on a level piece of ground within an 

 enclosure of sticks with an opening, and when the condors 

 are gorged, 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 froili 

 the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in 

 which, frequently to the number of five or six together, they 

 roost, and then at night to climb up and noose them. They 

 are such heavy sleepers, as I have myself witnessed, that 

 this is not a difiicult task. At Valparaiso, I have seen a 

 living condor sold for sixpence, but the common price is 

 eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought m, had 

 hccn tied with rope, and was much injured ; yet, the 



