1834.] FLIGHT OF CONDORS. 189 



On the other hand, besides the experiments of Audubon 

 and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in the 

 United States many varied plans, showing that neither the 

 turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen) nor 

 the gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions 

 of highly offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and strewed 

 pieces of meat on it ; these the carrion-vultures ate up, and 

 then remained quietly standing, with their beaks within the 

 eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, without discoveriiig 

 it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and the offal was 

 immediately discovered ; the canvas was replaced by a fresh 

 piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by 

 the vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on 

 which they were trampling. These facts are attested by the 

 signatures of six gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.* 



Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on 

 looking upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through 

 the air at a great height. Where the country is level I do 

 not believe a space of the heavens, of more than fifteen 

 degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with any 

 attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If 

 such be the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height 

 of between three and four thousand feet, before it could come 

 within the range of vision, its distance in a straight line 

 from the beholder's eye would be rather more than two 

 British miles. Might it not thus readily be overlooked? 

 When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely 

 valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by 

 the sharp-sighted bird ? And will not the manner of its 

 descent proclaim throughout the district to the whole family 

 of carrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand ? 



When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and 

 round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising 

 from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one of 

 these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several 

 for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes ; 

 they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending 

 and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided 

 close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique 

 position the outlines of the separate and great terminal 

 feathers of each wing ; and these separate feathers, if there 

 had been the least vibratory movement, would have appeared 

 as if Intended together ; but they were seen distinct against 



• Loudon's Magazine of Nat. Hist., vol. rii. 



