THE CONDOR. 7 



Indians make their appearance armed with the lasso, 

 and the Condors, being imable to escape by flight, are 

 pursued and caught by means of these singular weapons 

 with the greatest certainty. This sport is a peculiar 

 favourite in the country, where it is held in a deoree 

 of estimation second to that of a bull-hght alone. 



In tenacity of life the Condor exceeds almost every 

 other bird. M. Humboldt relates that during his stay 

 at Riobamba he was present at some experiments which 

 were made on one by the Indians who had taken it 

 alive. They first strangled it with a lasso and hanged 

 it on a tree, pulling it forcibly by the feet for several 

 minutes ; but scarcely was the lasso removed, when 

 the bird arose and walked about as though nothing 

 had occurred to aft'ect it. It was then shot with three 

 balls discharged from a pistol at less than four paces, 

 all of which entered its body, and wounded it in the 

 neck, chest, and abdomen : it still, however, kept its 

 legs. Another ball struck its thigh, and it fell to the 

 ground : this was preserved by M. Bonpland for a 

 considerable time as a memorial of the circumstance. 

 Ulloa had previously asserted that in the colder parts 

 of Peru the skin of the. Condor was so closely covered 

 with feathers that eight or ten balls might be heard to 

 strike it without penetrating its body. M. Humboldt's 

 bird did not die of its wounds until after an interval 

 of half an hour. 



The stories which have long been current, on the 

 authority of credulous travellers, imputing to the Condor 

 a propensity to cany ofi" youi'ig children and even to 

 attack men and women, appear to have originated 

 solely in that common feeling which delights in regard- 

 ing mere possibilities in the light of positive facts. 

 M. Humboldt declares that he never heard of an in- 

 stance in which a child was carried ofl', although the 

 children of the Indians who collect the snow on the 



