€5} HISTORY Of 



CHAP. III. 



THE CONDOR OF AMERICA. 



We might now come to speak of the vulture kind, as they 

 hold the next rank to the eagle ; but we are interrupted in our 



iu Barbary, Egrypt, Louisiana, and even in the island of Pins in the South 

 Sea. The balbuzzards of the reeds iu Carolina and Cayenne, appear to be 

 only varieties of the same species, which equally inhabits Pennsylvania, and 

 is sometimes called piravera. '! he places which the balbuzzard prefers to 

 frequent, are not the shores of the sea, but low lands bordering on ponds 

 and rivers, from which habit it might be termed the fresh-water eag-le. 

 Perched on a lofty tree, or hovering at a considerable elevation in the air. 

 It watches the fish from afar, descends upon it with the rapidity of light- 

 ning, seizes it at the moment it appears on the surface of the water, or even 

 plunges in completely after it, and carries it off in its talons. But this prey, 

 the weight of which renders the flight of the bird slow and laborious, does 

 not always remain the portion of the balbuzzard. On the banks of the Ohio, 

 where it goes to fish, when the peica oceltata quits the ocean to enter the 

 river, dwells al-o the formidable pygargus. Wlien he sees the balbuzrard 

 arrived to the height of his ejTie, he quits his own, pursues him closely, 

 until the fisher, convinced of his inferiority, abandons the prey ; then this 

 fierce antagonist w^ith folded wings shoots do«n like an arro\v, and with 

 the most inconceivable address, seizes the fish again before it reaches the 

 river. The right of the strongest is the sovereign arbiter of small and great 

 events, and governs throughout the universe with resistless sway, in the air, 

 on the earth, and under the waters. 



But as a corsair, whose booty has been taken by an enemy in sight of port, 

 undertakes a new expedition in the hope of being more fortunate, so the 

 balbuzzard recommences his operations, and possessed of a fresli prey, he 

 usually succeeds, if it be not too heavy, in escaping with it from his re- 

 doiibtable foe. These scenes continually occiu' as long as the fish above- 

 raentionod remains in the river. When it returns to the ocean, the pygar. 

 giis retires to his mountains, to pursue game, and the balbuzzard betakes 

 Jiimself to the sea-shore, where he is no longer obliged to pay tribute for 

 liis plunder. 



The balbuzzard builds its nest on the lofty trees of thick forests, or in the 

 crevices of rocks. According to Lewin, it is also constructed on the gromid 

 in the midst of roeds. Two or three white eggs are generally laid, some- 

 times four, and spotted \vith red. 



These birds are almost always in pairs ; but when the waters are frozen, 

 they separate in search of milder climates and a more facile subsistence ; they 

 are usually very fat, and the flesh savours strongly of fislu It is said, that 

 they might easily be trained for fislung as other birds are for hunting, and 

 it appears not improbable. In Siberia, where they are very common, an 

 opinion prevails that they carry a mortal poison in their talons, and the su- 

 perstitious inhabitants are dreadfully afraid of a single scratch. — See " The 

 Animal kingdom of Baron Cuvier. With Additional Descriptions." Vol. V \, 

 London, 19i9. 



