68 WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



~~ CHJLE7 



away in majestic circles. Having gorged themselves with 

 carrion on the plains below, they retire to these favorite 

 ledges to digest their food. In this part of the country 

 they live altogether on the guanacos which have died a 

 natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been 

 killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in Pat- 

 agonia, that they do not, on ordinary occasions, extend their 

 daily excursions to any great distance from their regular 

 sleeping-places. 



The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, 

 soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles. On 

 some occasions I am sure that they do this only for pleasure ; 

 but on others, the Chileno countryman tells you that they 

 are watching a dying animal, or the puma devouring its prey. 

 If the condors glide down, and then suddenly all rise togeth- 

 er, the Chileno knows that it is the puma, which, watching 

 the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers. Be- 

 sides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young 

 goats and lambs; and the shepherd -dogs are trained, when- 

 ever the birds pass over, to run out, and, looking upward, to 

 bark violently. The Chilenos destroy and catch numbers. 

 Two methods are used : one is to place a carcass on a level 

 piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks, having an open- 

 ing, and, when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horse- 

 back to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this 

 bird has not space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient 

 momentum to rise from the ground. The second method is 

 to mark the trees in which, frequently to the number of five 

 or six together, they roost, and then at night to climb up and 



