84 HISTORY OF 



scend from the heights of the mountains. By 

 later accounts we learn, that they come down to 

 the sea-shore only at certain seasons, when their 

 prey happens to fail them upon land ; that they 

 then feed upon dead fish, and such other nutri- 

 tious substances as the sea throws up on the 

 shore. We are assured, however, that their 

 countenance is not so terrible as the old writers 

 have represented it, but that they appear of a 

 milder nature than either the eagle or the vulture. 



Condamine has frequently seen them in se- 

 veral parts of the mountains of Quito, and ob- 

 served them hovering over a flock of sheep ; and 

 he thinks they would at a certain time have at- 

 tempted to carry one off, had they not been 

 scared away by the shepherds. Labat acquaints 

 us, that those who have seen this animal de- 

 clare, that the body is as large as that of a 

 sheep, arid that the flesh is tough, and as dis- 

 agreeable as carrion. The Spaniards themselves 

 seem to dread its depredations ; and there have 

 been many instances of its carrying off their 

 children. 



Mr Strong, the master of a ship, as he was sail- 

 ing along the coasts of Chili, in the thirty-third 

 degree of south latitude, observed a bird sitting 

 upon a high cliff near the shore, which some of 

 the ship's company shot with a leaden bullet, and 

 killed. They were greatly surprised when they 

 beheld its magnitude ; for when the wings were 

 extended they measured thirteen feet from one 

 tip to the other. One of the quills was two feet 

 four inches long ; and the barrel, or hollow part, 



