160 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
us, got into trouble, for Don Enrique, who was carrying the 
fowling-piece loaded with swan-shot, jumped off his horse, and 
brought down the bird with thundering rush at our feet. The 
other pannier was now loaded, and off we trudged to another 
brow, when our host left us, giving us special directions as to the 
road to be followed. 
Condor-hunters are especially welcomed to the Sierras, as the 
birds commit great havoc amongst the herds. ‘They will attack 
a calf four or five months old, and in a few minutes nothing 
is left of it but the skeleton. Waiting till the mother is at 
some distance, they swoop down and strike the animal to the 
ground, immediately ripping out its tongue that it may give no 
signal of alarm. 
Our homeward descent was continued without any other ad- 
venture save losing one of our companions in the woods. Our 
whistles were used continually without success for an hour, and 
then, by sheer accident, he again crossed our path, having been 
riding in every direction, misled by the notes of a bird, strongly 
resembling the sound of a whistle. 
We made a short halt, for maté and a cigarillo, at a rancho, 
the people in which, whilst expressing their delight at our 
successful hunt, wished to know whether we were going to use 
the Condors as a remedio, having no idea of the value or 
object of Natural History pursuits—in fact, considering a natu- 
ralist as a species of quack doctor who collects animals in 
order to procure wonderful remedios. In these Sierras a 
remedio is the usual form for begging. ‘The other evening an 
old woman at Cosquin begged for a piece of candle as a remedto— 
certainly a perfect cure for darkness. 
At sundown we arrived safely at our journey’s end, a little 
fatigued, but thoroughly well pleased with this our first Condor- 
hunt on the Sierras of Cordoba. 
os 
