LECTURE V. 165 



the bird was fn ,h killed, are said to have mea- 

 sured nearly I'-nit. . n f t from tip to tip. 1 



:MCII allords an opportunity of rectifying au 

 important error in i -ription of the Condor 



gi\cn by general obtcnreny who have seen it 

 in its IL. , hut prohahly at a di>tance, 



and with it^ \ dosed; tor such descrip- 



11 us that the hack of the bird is milk- 

 white, which is not the case, but the mistake 

 may be supposed to have arisen from the white 

 uiiiLc-leatln r> folding over the hack when the 

 . Njsi-d. In SIK h d( x-riptions also, the 

 tail is said to be small, whereas, on the contrary, 

 it i> large in proportion to the bird. The ac- 

 counts of the Condor, by some of the earlier 

 historians of the Western Continent are singu- 

 curious, and such as the more sober phi- 

 losophic faith of Kuropean Naturalists could 

 hardly be supposed to admit. These writers 

 More us that the Vulture called the Condor is 

 Hatching up, and carrying oil boys 

 -irds of ten years of age; that a pair 

 of these destroyers in concert, will attack a heifer 

 in th- midst of a field, and tear it in pieces w ith 

 the utmost ease. In short, tke descriptions of 



