222 



enclosure with palisades, in which is placed the 

 carcass of some animal. The condors, who pos- 

 sess great acuteness of sight and smell, are imme- 

 diately attracted thereby, and as they are extremely 

 voracious, they gorge themselves to such a degree 

 with food, that not being able readily to rise, 

 and obstructed by the narrowness of the enclo- 

 sure, they are easily killed by those who lie in 

 wait for them. The condor, however, possesses 

 great strength of wing, and though filled with 

 food, if it can once raise itself, or is upon an 

 eminence, it will fly with great swiftness, and 

 soon disappears in the air. M. de Bomare ob- 

 serves, that there is very little difference, except 

 in its colour, between the condor and the laem- 

 mergeyer of Switzerland ; and I am of opinion 

 that it is only a variety of the same species. 



Of bats, an animal that holds a middle station 

 between birds and quadrupeds, there arc but two 

 species in Chili : the house-bat, which is in no 

 respect different from the European, and the 

 mountain-bat, which is of the same size and 

 shape, and distinguishable only by its being of 

 an orange colour. Neither of these are vam- 

 pyres, as are those of the southern torrid zone, 

 but feed entirely upon insects. 



Sect. VI. Quadrupeds. I have already esti- 

 mated the number of quadrupeds in Chili at 

 thirty-six species, without including those that 

 have been imported. I have even excepted the 



