416 AVES— CONDOR. 



the tip of the beak to the extremity of the tail ; and its height, when 

 perching, with the neck partly withdrawn, two feet eight inches. Its beak 

 was two inches and three quarters in length, and an inch and a quarter in 

 depth, when closed. 



The beak of the condor is straight at the base, but the upper mandible 

 becomes arched towards the point, and terminates in a strong and well 

 curved hook. The basal half is of an ash brown, and the remaining por- 

 tion towards the point is nearly white. The head and neck are bare of 

 feathers, and covered with a hard, wrinkled, dusky reddish skin, on which 

 are scattered some short brown or blackish hairs. On the top of the head, 

 which is much flattened above, and extending some distance along the 

 beak, is attached an oblong, firm caruncle, or comb, covered by a continua- 

 tion of the skin which invests the head. This organ is peculiar to the male. 

 It is connected to the beak only in its anterior part, and is separated from 

 it at the base in such a manner as to allow of a free passage of the air to 

 the large oval nostrils, which are situated beneath it at that part. Behind 

 the eyes, Avhich are somewhat elongated, and not sunk beneath the general 

 surface of the head, the skin of the neck is, as it were, gathered into a 

 series of descending folds, extending obliquely from the back of the head, 

 over the temples, to the under side of the neck, and there connected an- 

 teriorly with a lax membrane or wattle, capable of being dilated at plea- 

 sure, like that of the common turkey. The neck is marked by numerous, 

 deep parallel folds, produced by the habit of retracting the head, in which the 

 bird indulges when at rest. In this position scarcely any part of the neck 

 is visible. 



Round the lower part of the neck, both sexes, the female as well as the 

 male, are furnished with a broad white ruff, of downy feathers, which forms 

 the line of separation between the naked skin above and the true feathers 

 covering the body below it. All the other feathers, with the exception 

 of the wing coverts and the secondary quill feathers, are of a bright black, 

 generally mingled with a grayish tinge of greater or less intensity. In the 

 female, the wing coverts are blackish gray ; but the male has their points, 

 and frequently as much as half their lengtli, white. The wings of the 

 latter are consequently distinguished from those of the female by their large 

 white patches. The secondary quill feathers of both sexes are white on the 

 outer side. The tail is short and Avedge-shaped. The legs are exces- 

 sively thick and powerful, and are colored of a bluish gray, intermingled 

 with whitish streaks. Their elongated toes are united at the base by a 

 loose but very apparent membrane, and are terminated by long, black 

 talons, of considerable thickness, but very little curved. The hinder toe is 

 much shorter than the rest ; and its talon, although more distinctly curved, 

 is equally wanting in strength ; a deficiency which renders the foot much 

 less powerful as an organ of prehension than that of any other of the large 

 birds of the raptorial order. 



