HUNTING IN THE ANDES. 39 



opportunity offers to such an extent that they can only 

 with difficulty rise from the ground, on this occasion 

 such of the guanaco meat as I had left gave but a 

 snack to each, and they all flew off with a great beating 

 of wings. 



On another day, having again shot a guanaco, I sat 

 down in the open on a stone not more than fifty yards 

 from it. Soon the condors began to appear, as 

 well as some coranchos. The latter perched on the 

 bushes at a distance, and the condors did not alight 

 until I had gone some forty or fifty yards further off, 

 when at last one bolder than the rest settled and began 

 to pluck out the guanaco's eyes. 



It has since been a matter of regret to me that I did 

 not try to get some condors' eggs, but it was rather late 

 in the season, and, though I saw many of their breeding- 

 places on the high cliffs round the Andean lakes, the 

 young birds were hatched by that time, for it was 

 already December when I reached the mountains among 

 the cliffs of which they nest. 



There can be no doubt about the fact that condors do 

 attack living game, though it is probable that they 

 choose the very youpg or weak animals as their prey. 

 I can recall an instance that I witnessed near Lake 

 Argentine. I was riding down a rugged cleft in the 

 deep canadon of a river valley on the eastern side of the 

 lake when I saw on a ledge ahead of me a guanaco 

 struggling to rise from its knees. The poor creature was 

 too weak to do so in spite of its furious efforts. Two 

 large condors were hovering close above it. As I 

 galloped up the guanaco fell over on its side, and one of 

 the birds instantly lit close by and pecked at it. I rode 

 up in less than a minute and the condor rose at once, 



