Mr. Douglas on the Vultur Calif ornianus . 329 



Under coverts white; upper coverts white at the points. Tarsi 4 1 of an 

 inch long, bluish black. Claws black, blunt, having little curvature. 

 Tail 14 feathers, square at the ends, 15 inches long. In plumage both 

 sexes are alike: in size the female is somewhat larger. 



These gigantic birds, which represent the Condor in the northern he- 

 misphere, are common along the coast of California, but are never seen 

 beyond the woody parts of the country. I have met with them as far to 

 the north as 49° N. Lat. in the summer and autumn months, but no 

 where so abundantly as in the Columbian valley between the Grand Ra- 

 pids and the sea. They build their nests in the most secret and impe- 

 netrable parts of the pine forests, invariably selecting the loftiest trees 

 that overhang precipices on the deepest and least accessible parts of the 

 mountain vallies. The nest is large, composed of strong thorny twigs 

 and grass, in every way similar to that of the eagle tribe, but more 

 slovenly constructed. The same pair resort for several years to the same 

 nest, bestowing little trouble or attention in repairing it. Eygs two, 

 nearly spherical, about the size of those of a goose, jet black. Period of 

 incubation 29 or 31 days. They hatch generally about the first of 

 June. The young are covered with thick whitish down, and are incapa- 

 ble of leaving the nest until the fifih or sixth week. Food carrion, dead 

 fish, or other dead animal substance. In no instance will they attack 

 any living animal unless it be wounded and unable to walk. Their senses 

 of smelling and seeing are remarkably keen. In searching for prey they 

 soar to a very great altitude, and when they discover a wounded deer or 

 other animal, they follow its track, and, when it sinks, precipitately de- 

 scend on their object. Although only one is at first seen occupying the 

 carcase, few minutes elapse before the prey is surrounded by great 

 numbers, and it is then devoured to a skeleton within an hour, even 

 though it be one of the larger animals, Cervus Llaphus, for instance, 

 or a horse. 



Their voracity is almost insatiable and they are extremely ungenerous, 

 suffering no other animal to approach them while feeding. After eating 

 they become so sluggish and indolent as to remain in the same place until 

 urged by hunger to go in quest of another repast. At such times they 

 perch on decayed trees with their heads so much retracted as to be with 

 difficulty observed through the long, loose, lanceolate feathers of the 



