80 BIRDS OF PREY 



egg-collector continues to take his annual rents, though if 

 this is done it is kept very quiet. It is my impression that 

 the present fatalities from all sources are fully balanced by 

 the natural rate of increase. 



'There is one factor that has militated against the Condor 

 more than any other one thing: namely, the restriction in its 

 food source. Its forage range formerly included most of the 

 great valleys adjacent to its mountain retreats. But now the 

 valleys are almost entirely devoted to agriculture, and of 

 course far more thickly settled than formerly. 



"The mountainous areas where the Condor is making its 

 last stand seem to me likely to remain adapted to the bird's 

 existence for many years — fifty years, if not longer. Of course, 

 this is conditional upon the maintenance and enforcement of 

 the present laws. There is also the enlightenment of public 

 sentiment in regard to the preservation of wild life, which I 

 believe can be depended upon. This is a matter of general 

 education, which is, fortunately, and with no doubt whatever, 

 progressing at a quite perceptible rate. 



"Yes; I should say that the Condor has a fair chance to 

 survive, in limited numbers." 



The California Condor is one of the only two species of 

 Condor now living, and it is the only one found in North 

 America. As a matter of national pride, and a duty to pos- 

 terity, the people of the United States can far better afford to 

 lose a million dollars from their national treasury than to 

 allow that bird to become extinct. Its preservation for all 

 coming time is distinctly a white man's burden upon the 



