THE CONDOR. 83 



are interrupted in our method, by the considera- 

 tion of an enormous bird, whose place is not yet 

 ascertained, as naturalists are in doubt whether 

 to refer it to the eagle tribe or to that of the vul- 

 ture. Its great strength, force, and vivacity, 

 might plead for its place among the former ; the 

 baldness of its head and neck might be thought 

 to degrade it among the latter. In this uncer- 

 tainty, it will be enough to describe the bird 

 by the lights we have, and leave future histo- 

 rians to settle its rank in the feathered creation. 

 Indeed, if size and strength, combined with ra- 

 pidity of flight and rapacity, deserve pre-emi- 

 nence, no bird can be put in competition with it. 

 The Condor possesses, in a higher degree than 

 the eagle, all the qualities that render it formid- 

 able, not only to the feathered kind, but to beasts, 

 and even to man himself. Acosta, Garcilasso, 

 and Desmarchais, assert, that it is eighteen feet 

 across, the wings extended. The beak is so 

 strong as to pierce the body of a cow ; and two 

 of them are able to devour it. They do not even 

 abstain from man himself: but fortunately there 

 are but few of the species ; for if they had been 

 plenty, every order of animals must have carried 

 on an unsuccessful war against them. The Indians 

 assert, that they will carry off a deer, or a young 

 calf, in their talons, as eagles would a hare or a 

 rabbit ; that their sight is piercing, and their air 

 terrible; that they seldom frequent the forests, 

 as they require a large space for the display of 

 their wings, but that they are found on the sea- 

 shore, and the banks of rivers, whither they de- 



