THE CONDOR. 



less intensity. In the female the wing-coverts are 

 blackish gray; but the male has their points, and 

 frequently as much as half their length, 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 wedge-shaped. The 

 legs are excessively thick and powerful, and are coloured 

 of a bluish gray, intermingled with whitish streaks. 

 Their elongated toes are united at the base by a loose 

 but veiy 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 Rapto- 

 rial Order. 



The Condor has been observed throughout the whole 

 range of that immense chain of mountains which tra- 

 verses the continent of South America, from the Straits 

 of Magellan to the seventh degree of north latitude. 

 It appears, however, to be much more common in 

 Peru and Chili than in any other part of the chain, 

 and is most frequently met with at an elevation of 

 from ten to fifteen thousand feet above the level of 

 the ocean. Here, in the regions of perpetual snow, 

 they may be seen grouped together to the number of 

 three or four, but never in the large troops in which 

 the true Vultures sometimes assemble, on the bold 

 points of the jutting rocks, many of the most remark- 

 able of which are designated by the natives with names 

 derived from the bird that haunts their pinnacles. It 

 is only when driven by hunger that it descends into 

 the plains, which it quits as soon as its appetite is 

 satiated, unable, as it would seem, to support for any 



