HUNTING IN THE ANDES. 45 



than the rest settled and began to pluck out the guanaco's 

 eyes. 



It has since been a matter of regret to me that I did 

 not try to get some condors' eggs, but it was rather late 

 in the season, and, though I saw many of their breeding- 

 places on the high cliffs round the Andean lakes, the young 

 birds were hatched by that time, for it was already De- 

 cember when I reached the mountains among the cliffs of 

 which they nest. 



There can be no doubt about the fact that condors do 

 attack living game, though it is probable that they choose 

 the very young or weak animals as their prey. I can recall 

 an instance that I witnessed near Lake Argentine. I was 

 riding down a rugged cleft in the deep canadon of a river 

 valley on the eastern side of the lake when I saw on a ledge 

 ahead of me a guanaco struggling to rise from its knees. 

 The poor creature was too weak to do so in spite of its 

 furious efforts. Two large condors were hovering close 

 above it. As I galloped up the guanaco fell over on its 

 side, and one of the birds instantly lit close byand pecked 

 at it. I rode up in less than a minute and the condor rose 

 at once, but in that moment it had torn out both the 

 guanaco's eyes. When, after putting it out of its pain, I 

 examined the animal, I found that it was suffering from 

 scab and was so emaciated that it must have been on the 

 point of death when the condor attacked it. 



Nothing more ghastly can be imagined than the fate of 

 the solitary rider who meets with an accident in that region ; 

 such an incident forms the subject of a powerful and grue- 

 some picture which hangs in the Natural History Museum 

 at La Plata. In this picture a gaucho has fallen from his 

 horse and lies helpless on the ground, while the condors 

 and other birds of prey are sitting round him or wheeling 

 in the air above his head. It represents, I am afraid, a 

 tragedy which the pampas have often witnessed. 



