180 Mr. J. Orton on the (hndws of the Equatorial Andes. 



good paces long ! Yet the statement continues to be published 

 that the ordinary expanse of a full-grown specimen is from 

 twelve to twenty feet ; whereas it is very doubtful if it ever 

 exceeds, or even equals, twelve feet. A full-grown male from 

 the most celebrated locality on the Andes, now in Vassar 

 College, has a stretch of nine feet. Humboldt never found 

 one to measure over nine feet ; and the largest specimen seen 

 by Darwin was eight and a half feet from tip to tip. An 

 old male in the Zoological Gardens of London measures eleven 

 feet. Von Tschudi says he found one with a spread of four- 

 teen feet two inches ; but he invalidates his testimony by the 

 subsequent statement that the full-grown condor measures 

 from twelve to thirteen feet. 



The old names of Vidtur gryphus^ V. mageUanicus^ Gypagus 

 gryffas^ and Zopilotes are obsolete, and Sarcoramphiis gryphus 

 is universally adopted ; but it is not yet settled that it is 

 genei'ically distinct from the other great vultures. Thus 

 ►Sclater and Gurney })ut the condor alone in Sarcoramphus ; 

 while Gray and Strickland include the king vulture ; and 

 Vieillot and others add a third, the California vulture. The 

 structure and habits of the condor, in our judgment, make it 

 worthy to stand by itself. The king vulture belongs more 

 especially to the plains ; while the California s])ecies has 

 straggling feathers on its head, builds nests in ti'ccs where it 

 perches, and its time of incubation is only one month. 



But a more important question, perhaps, is, whether there 

 is but one sj^ecies. Associated with the great condor is a 

 smaller vulture, having brown or ash-coloured plumage in- 

 stead of black and white, a beak wholly black instead of black 

 at the base and white at the tip, and no caruncle. It inhabits 

 the high altitudes, and is rather common. This was formerly 

 thought to be a distinct species ; but lately ornithologists have 

 pronounced it the young of the Hai'coranvpJnis gryphus. We 

 wish this decision to be reconsidered ; for there is some ground 

 for the belief that the first impression is correct — that the 

 " Condor pardo " (as the brown kind is called by the natives) 

 is specifically distinct from the greater " Condor negro." 

 They are always spoken of as separate kinds at Quito, where 

 certainly it would be known if one were the young of the 

 other. 



Mr. John Smith, an Englishman of intelligence and acute 

 observation, and a resident of nearly twelve years on the slope 

 of Antisana, where both kinds abound, said to us : — " I have 

 heard it said that the brown condor is the young of the black. 

 It cannot possibly be, for I have seen young condors with 

 white beaks and a few white feathers in their wings. I have 



