THE CONDOR. 



37 



CHAP. III. 



THE CONDOR OF AMERICA. 



WE might now come to speak of the vul- 

 ture kind, as they hold the next rank to the 



other seasons, this river has been wont to awake in me. 

 I lay stretched beside our patroon ; the safety of the 

 cargo was forgotten, and the only thing that called forth 

 my attention was the multitude of ducks, of different 

 species, accompanied by vast flocks of swans, which 

 from time to time would pass us. My patroon, a Can- 

 adian, had been engaged many years in the fur trade : 

 he was a man of much intelligence, who, perceiving 

 that these birds had engaged my curiosity, seemed only 

 anxious to find some new object to divert me. The 

 sea-eagle flew over us. ' How fortunate! ' he exclaimed ! 

 ' this is what I could have wished. Look, sir ! the 

 great eagle, and the only one I have seen since I left 

 the lakes.' I was instantly on my feet, and, having 

 observed it attentively, concluded, as I lost it in the 

 distance, that it was a species quite new to me. 



" The sea-eagle of America is full one-fourth larger 

 in size than any female specimen of the other kind I 

 ever met with, old or young. In the United States, 

 from Massachusetts to Louisiana on the seaboard, or as 

 high as the mouth of the Missouri to the north-west, (I 

 speak only of the extent of country I have visited, and 

 where I have seen them,) these birds are very rare. 

 This will appear to all, when I say that during my many 

 long peregrinations more than eight ornine I neverfound, 

 and only one nest. Two years had gone by since the 

 discovery of the nest, in fruitless excursions; but my 

 wishes were no longer to remain ungratified. In re- 

 turning from the little village of Henderson, to the house 



of Dr R , about a mile distant, I saw one rise 



from a small inclosure not a hundred yards before me, 

 where the doctor had a few days before slaughtered 

 some hogs, and alight upon a low tree branching over 

 the road. I prepared my double-barrelled piece, which 

 I constantly carry, and' went slowly and cautiously to- 

 wards him ; quite fearless, he awaited my approach, 

 looking upon me with an undaunted eye. I fired, and 

 he fell ; before I reached him he was dead. With 

 what delight I surveyed this magnificent bird ! Had 

 the finest salmon ever pleased him as he did me ? 

 Never. I ran and presented him to my friend. The 

 doctor, who was an experienced hunter, examined the 

 bird with much satisfaction, and frankly acknowledged 

 he had never before seen or heard of it. 



" The name I chose for this new species of eagle, 

 ' The Bird of Washington,' may, by some, be con- 

 sidered as preposterous and unfit; but, being indisput- 

 ably the noblest of the genus known to naturalists, I 

 trust it will be allowed to retain it. To those, how- 

 ever, who may be curious to know my reasons, I can 

 only say, that as the New World gave me birth and 

 liberty, the great man who insured its independence is 



eagle; but we are interrupted in our method, 

 by the consideration of an enormous bird, 

 whose place is not yet ascertained ; as natu- 

 ralists are in doubt whether to refer it to 

 the eagle tribe, or to that of the vulture. Its 

 great strength, force and vivacity, might 

 plead for its place among the former ; the 

 baldness of its head and neck might be thought 

 to degrade it among the latter. In this un- 

 certainty, it will be enough to describe the 

 bird by the lights we have, and leave future 

 historians to settle its rank in the feathered 

 creation. Indeed, if size and strength, com- 

 bined with rapidity of flight and rapacity, de- 

 serve pre-eminence, no bird can be put in 

 competition with it. 



The condor possesses, in a higher degree 



next to my heart : he had such true nobility of mind, 

 and honest, generous feeling, as is seldom possessed. 

 He was brave so is the eagle; and his name, extend- 

 ing from pole to pole, resembles the majestic soarings of 

 the mightiest of the feathered tribe. 



" The flight of this bird i8 very different from that of 

 the white-headed eagle, encircling more diameter than 

 the latter; whilst sailing, keeping nearer to the land 

 and the surface of the water; and when about to dive 

 for fish, falling in a circuitous spiral mariner, as if with 

 an intention of checking all retreating movement which 

 its prey might attempt, and only when within a few 

 yards darting upon it. The fish-hawk often does the 

 same. When rising with a fish, they fly to a consider- 

 able distance, forming, in their line of course and that 

 of the water, a very acute angle, something not exceed- 

 ing thirty degrees, when several hundred yards distant 

 from the spot emerged from. 



" The glands containing the oil used for the purpose 

 of lubricating the surface of the plumage were, in the 

 specimen here represented, extremely large ; the con- 

 tents had the appearance of hog's fat which had been 

 melted and become rancid. This bird makes more 

 copious use of that substance than the white-headed 

 eagle, or any of the falco genus, except the fish-hawk ; 

 the whole plumage looking, upon close examination, 

 as if it had received a general coating of a thin, clear 

 dilution of gum-arabic, and presenting less of the downv 

 gloss exhibited on the upper part of the bald-headed 

 eagle's plumage. The male bird weighs 14| Ibs. 

 avoirdupois; measures 3 ft. 7 in. in length, and 10 ft. 

 2 in. in extent. The upper mandible 3f in., dark 

 bluish black : it is, however, the same colour for half its 

 length, turning into yellow towards the mouth, which is 

 surrounded with a thick yellow skin. Mouth, blue; 

 tongue, the same ; cere, greenish yellow ; eye, large, of 

 a fine chestnut colour ; iris, black, the whole protected 

 above by a broad, strong, bony, cartilaginous substance, 

 giving the eye the appearance of being much sunk. 

 Lores, lightish blue, with much strong recumbent hair; 

 upper part of the head, neck, back, scapulars, rump, 

 tail coverts, femorals, and tail feathers, dark, coppery, 

 glossy brown ; throat, front of the neck, breast, and 

 belly, rich bright cinnamon colour ; the feathers of 

 the whole of which are long, narrow, sharp-pointed, of a 

 hairy texture, each dashed along the centre with the 

 brown of the back ; the wings, when closed, reach with- 

 in an inch and a half of the end of the tail feathers, 

 which are very broad next the body. Lesser coverts, 

 rusty iron gray, forming with that colour an elongated 

 oval, reaching from the shoulders to the lower end of 

 the secondaries, gradually changing to the brown of the 



