

BIHD9. 67 



Mr Strong, tlie master of a ship, as he was sailing along the 

 coasts of Chili, in the thirty- third degree of south latitude, ob- 

 served a bird sitting upon a high cliff near the shore, which 

 some of the ship's company shot with a leaden bullet and killed. 



The condor, like the Uaraa, the vicunna, the alpaca, and several alpine 

 plants, is peculiar to the diaiu of the Andes. The region of the globe which 

 he appears to prefer to every other is of an elevation of from 1600 to 2500 

 toises. Whenever the baron and his friend M. Bonpland were led, in the 

 course of their herborizing- exciu'sions, to the limits of perpetual snows, 

 they were always surrounded by condors. There they used to find them, 

 three or foiu- in number, on the points of the rocks. They exhibited no dis- 

 trust, and suflorod themselves to be approached within a couple of toises. 

 They did not appear to liave the slightest inclination to attack. Baron de 

 Humboldt declares that, after the utmost research, he never heard a single 

 example quoted of a condor having carried otf a child, as has been so fre- 

 quently reported. M. do Humboldt does not, however, doubt that two 

 condors would be capable of depriving a child of ten years of age of life, or 

 even a grown man. It is very common to see them attack a young bull, 

 and tear out his tongue and eyes. The beak and talons of the condor are 

 of the most enormous force. Nevertheless all the Indians who inhabit the 

 Andes of Quito are unanimous that this bird is not dangerous to man. 



Though the condor exclusively belongs to the chain of the Andes ; though 

 it prefers situations more elevated than the peak of Teneriffe or the sum. 

 mits of Mont-Blanc ; tho\igh of all animals, it is the one which removes to 

 the greatest distance from the surface of our planet ; it is yet not less true, 

 that hunger will sometimes induce it to descend into the plains, and more 

 especially into those which border on this mighty mountain chain. Condors 

 nre to be seen even on the shores of the southern ocean, especially in the 

 cold and temperate latitudes of Chili, where the chain of the Andes may be 

 almost said to border on the margin of the Pacific. Still it is observed that 

 this bird sojourns but a few hours in these lower regions. It prefers the 

 mountain solitudes, where it respires a rarefied atmosphere, in which the 

 barometer does not rise above 16. On this account, in the Andes of Peru 

 and Quito, many small groupes of rocks, and platforms elevated 2450 toises 

 above the level of the sea, bear the names of Cuntur-Kahua, Cuntur.Palti, 

 Cwitur.Huachatia, names signifying, in the Inca language, watch-tower, 

 Brooding place, or nest, of the condors. 



M. de Humboldt was assured that the condor builds no nest ; that it de- 

 posits its eggs on the naked rock, without siu-rounding them with straw or 

 leaves. The eggs are said to be altogether white, and from three to four 

 Inches in length. It is also reported that the female remains with tlu; little 

 ones for the space of an entire year. When the condor descends into the 

 plains, it prefers alighting on the ground to perching in the trees, like the 

 vultur aura. The talons of the condor are very straight ; and it is a re- 

 mark of Aristotle, that birds of prey with very crooked talons are not fond 

 of settling upon stones or rocks. 



The habits of the condor are similar to those of the laemmcr-geyer. If it is 

 not larger than the latter, it appears to be superior in strength and audacity. 

 'Iwo condors will dart upon the deer of the Andes, upon the puma, the vi- 



