44 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Carrying off lambs. 



sight, on account of the Indians, who, at the 

 cries of the boys and the barking of the dogs, 

 were running towards the place." 



This circumstance of the condor seizing and 

 carrying off lambs is also attested by Frezier, in 

 a Voyage to the South Seas. " We one day," 

 says this writer, " killed a bird of prey called 

 the condor; which was nine feet from the end 

 of one wing to the end of the other, and had a 

 brown comb or crest, but not jagged like that of 

 a cock. The fore-part of its throat was red, 

 without feathers like a turkey. These birds are 

 generally large and strong enough to take up a 

 lamb. In order to separate one of these animals 

 from the flock, they form themselves into a cir- 

 cle, and advance towards them with their wings- 

 extended, that, by being driven too close toge- 

 ther, the full-horned rams may not be able to de- 

 fend their young. They then pick out the lambs, 

 and carry them off." 



The female condor makes her nest among the 

 highest and most inaccessible rocks ; where she 

 lays two white eggs, somewhat bigger than those 

 of the turkey. 



In their native country of South America these 

 enormous animals seem to supply the place of 

 wolves; and are as much feared by the inhabi- 

 tants as wolves are in other climates. In conse- 

 quence of this, many modes of destroying -them 

 have been adopted. Sometimes a person, cover- 



