864 THE CONDOR 



There is among the mountains a natural funnel-shaped ex- 

 cavation, sixty feet in depth, and about eighty feet in diameter 

 at the top. The Indians place, on the edge of the pit, the 

 putrid body of a mule, so balanced that it will easily fall 

 over. In a short time it is discovered by numbers of condors, 

 which, darting down, greedily attack it. Tugging and pulling 

 at the flesh, they soon draw it over the edge, when it falls to 

 the bottom of the pit. Not to be disappointed of their prey, 

 they hold tightly to the body, and descend with it. Here, 

 having gorged themselves, they are unable to rise again to 

 the mouth of the pit, and are speedily killed with stones and 

 sticks by the natives who collect round it, or are drawn cap- 

 tive to the surface. Dr. Tschudi, in his Travels, mentions 

 having seen twenty-eight birds at one time thus destroyed. 



They are caught in a similar manner in other places, and 

 brought down to the coast, where they are sold for a few 

 dollars ; and often thus find their way to Europe. It was 

 long an unsettled point whether the condor discovers the dead 

 animals on which it feeds by the power of sight or of scent ; 

 but Darwin, by several experiments, has settled the question 

 in favour of the bird's keenness of vision. 



A number of condors were kept captive in a garden, secured 

 by ropes. Wrapping up a piece of meat in white paper, and 

 holding it in his hand, he walked up and down in front of 

 the birds ; but they took no notice of it. He then threw it 

 down in front of an old male bird ; but it was still disre- 

 garded. He then pushed it with a stick till it touched the 

 condor's beak, when the paper was torn off with fury, and 

 every bird in the row began struggling and flapping its wings 

 to reach the food. Under the same circumstances, no dog 

 would have been deceived. 



