MY FIRST CONDOR 



NO ornithologist, of whatever grade, ever came 

 to California without hopes of seeing the 

 great California vulture, otherwise known as 

 the condor. It is worth seeing because it is the 

 largest bird in North America, not to say the 

 world, and because, if not rare, it is at least 

 rarely met with. We all love to do what our 

 neighbors and rivals have never succeeded in 

 accompHshing. Difficulty and scarcity go far to 

 set the price in all markets. 



So it was that from the day I reached the 

 Pacific coast I kept my eyes wide open for a 

 condor. I knew, of course, from reading, that it 

 was supposed to be found only among the 

 higher mountains; but then, I said to myself, for 

 a creature with wings high mountains are never 

 far away hereabout, and the bird might by some 

 chance be passing overhead almost anywhere.^ 

 If he were at all like other Westerners, I reasoned, 

 he couldn't be contented to stay in the same 

 place very long at once ; and anyhow, there 



* Three times, since this sketch was written, I have seen 

 (at Santa Barbara) a condor near sea-level, but mountains were 

 always within a few miles. 



93 



