THE CONDOR OF AMERICA. 25 



and so beautiful allusions, and which so strikingly shows what 

 powers the Great Creator can bestow on different orders of an 

 imal existence. 



THE CONDOR OF AMERICA 



Is universally allowed to be the largest of all the birds that, 

 are endowed with the power of flight, and it also possesses in 

 the highest degree all the qualities that can render it formidable. 

 The wings; when extended, reach eighteen feet from one ex- 

 tremity to the other. Its beak is so strong as to pierce the hide 

 of any horned cattle ; and it is said, that two of these birds are 

 able to devour an ox. When stimulated by hunger, the condor 

 does not hesitate to attack mankind ; but, fortunately, there are 

 not many of this species: if they were numerous, their depreda- 

 tions would be dreadful. The Indians assert, that this rapacious 

 bird will carry off a deer or a calf, as an eagle does a hare or a 

 lamb. M. de Condamine says, he has frequently seen them in 

 the mountainous parts of Quito, hovering over a flock of sheep ; 

 and he imagines that they would have attempted to carry some 

 of them off, had they not been prevented by the shepherds. 

 This bird is of a brown colour, with a white ruff round the neck, 

 and on the head a brown comb, but not indented like that of a 

 cock. Some naturalists have classed it among the vultures, be- 

 cause its neck and head are bare of feathers ; but in fierceness 

 and courage, as well as in all its habits and disposition, it seems 

 rather to resemble the eagle. The condor, requiring a wide 

 space for the expansion of its wings, seldom frequents the forests, 

 but chiefly resides in the mountains, whence it occasionally de- 

 scends into the plains near the sea-shore, in search of supplies. 



Whether this bird be peculiar to America, appears somewhat 

 problematical. Some naturalists suppose that the great bird 

 called the roc, described by Arabian writers, and so much exag- 

 gerated by fable, is a species of the condor. The great bird or 

 Tarnopar, in the East-Indies, and the vulture of Senegal, which 

 carries off children, are also thought to belong to this tribe. 



The valley of Pachomar, where this ferocious bird chiefly re- 

 sides, is seldom frequented by travellers. It cannot indeed be 

 expected that any one, unless compelled by urgent business, 

 would venture to range those desolate wastes. It can scarcelv 

 be supposed, indeed, that mere curiosity would carry any per- 

 sons into those dreary regions, where broken precipices, forests 

 swarming with panthers, and resounding with the hissing of ser- 

 pents, and frowning mountains rendered more terrible by the 

 condor, inspire a secret horror, and at every step seem to 

 threaten destruction. 



3* C 



