AMERICAN VULTURES. 



267. 



of their ordinary range cannot be more than sixteen thousand feet ; while in the 

 same district they do not appear to descend below some nine thousand feet. 

 Since, however, condors in Patagonia are commonly seen at the sea-level, it 

 is probable that there is an 

 upland and a lowland race, ?^^^p©ate;«M,«™^,ipMffliii™; tw^i^ vm 



and' that the same birds do 



not range from the level of 

 the sea to ele\ ations of six- 

 teen thousand leet In le- 

 gard to their liabits when 

 on the wing, Mr Win mper 

 writes that ' on tlie lew 

 occasions vipon which we 

 w^ere approached by condois 

 in a menacing manner, we 

 became aware of their pre- 

 sence from their shadow^s 

 being cast upon us by a 



nearly vertical sun. They never came near when the sun was concealed, and 

 if they hovered in our neighbourhood they always kept the sun at their backs. 

 This cannot be their invariable habit in a country where the sun is so often in- 

 visible, though possibly it is adopted wdienever there is a chance, and the motive 

 is obvious. The objects to be attacked are dazzled by the sun's rays, while the 



CONDOltS FLOCKING TO A DEAD ULAXACO. 



