14 ACCIPITRES. VULTURID^E. 



bird : there seems no doubt that individuals have 

 actually been measured, the expanse of whose 

 wings reached to eleven feet, and whose length 

 from beak to tail was between three and four feet. 

 The general colour of the Condor is a glossy 

 black, but the greater part of the wing in the 

 male is white, as is a ruff of soft loose feathers 

 that encircles the base of the neck. The naked 

 skin of the head and neck is of a purplish-red 

 hue ; and the greater portion of the beak is white. 



In that lofty mountain range which runs 

 through the whole length of South America, 

 whose inaccessible summits are covered with per- 

 petual snow, even beneath a vertical sun, the 

 Condor delights to dwell, fixing his habitation 

 in solitary grandeur at the height of 10,000 or 

 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. Here they 

 are to be seen in pairs, or groups of three or 

 four, but never associate in large numbers, like the 

 other Vultures. It does not confine itself to dead 

 animals to satisfy its appetite. Mr. Darwin ob- 

 serves, that it will frequently attack living goats 

 and lambs ; and two of them are said to unite 

 their efforts even upon creatures so powerful as 

 the llama, or even the puma, which they succeed 

 in destroying. Its strength is very great, as is 

 also its tenacity of life. 



The graceful motions of these Vultures in the 

 air, are thus graphically described by Mr. Darwin : 

 " When the Condors in a flock are wheeling 

 round and round any spot, their flight is beauti- 

 ful. 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 



