106 The Andes and the Amazon. 



The males, both of birds and butterflies, are the most gaud- 

 ily dressed. In the highlands the most prominent birds are 

 the condor and the humming-bird. These two extremes in 

 size are found side by side on the summit of Pichincha. 

 The condor appears in its glory among the mountains of 

 Quito. Its ordinary haunt is at the height of Etna. No 

 other living creature can remove at pleasure to so great a 

 distance from the earth ; and it seems to fly and respire as 

 easily under the low barometric pressure of thirteen inches 

 as at the sea-shore. It can dart in an instant from the 

 dome of Chimborazo to the sultry coast of the Pacific. It 

 has not the kingly port of the eagle, and is a cowardly rob- 

 ber : a true vulture, it prefers the relish of putrescence and 

 the flavor of death. It makes no nest, but lays two eggs 

 on a jutting ledge of some precipice, and fiercely defends 

 them. The usual spread of wings is nine feet. It does 

 not live in pairs like the eagle, but feeds in flocks like its 

 loathsome relative, the buzzard. It is said to live forty 

 days without f«od in captivity, but at liberty it is very vo- 

 racious. The usual method of capture is to kill an old 

 mare (better than horse, the natives say), and allow the bird 

 to gorge himself, w^hen he becomes so sluggish as to be 

 easily lassoed. It is such a heavy sleeper, it is possible to 

 take it from its roost. The evidences in favor of and 

 against its acute smelling powers are singularly balanced. 

 For reasons unknown, the condor does not range north of 

 Darien, though it extends its empire through clouds and 

 storms to the Straits of Magellan. In the Inca language 

 it was called cuntur^ and was anciently an object of wor- 

 ship. The condor, gallinazo, turkey-buzzard, and caracara 

 eagle (says Dar^dn) ^' in their habits well supply the place 



(Rnpicola) on the Avestern side of the Andes (Esmeraldas) is of a richer, 

 deeper color than the same species on the eastern slope (Napo). In keeping 

 with j\Ir. Gould's theory is the statement hy Mr. Bates, that the most gaudy 

 l)utterflies (the males) flutter in the sunshine. 



