158 ANECDOTE OF THE CONDOR. 
the Harpy Eagle. The length of a male 
specimen of the Condor, somewhat less than 
nine feet in expanse, was three feet three 
inches, from the tip of the beak to the ex- 
tremity of the tail. 
The Condor is difficult to kill. 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, or leathern thong, and then hanged 
it upon 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 if nothing had been done to 
it. It was then shot with three balls, dis- 
charged from a pistol at less than four paces, 
all of which entered its body, and wounded 
it in the neck, chest, and abdomen, yet, still, - 
it kept its legs. It was only when a fourth 
ball struck its thigh that it fell to the 
ground. 
With reference to the pretended accounts 
of the carrying away children by the Condor, 
M. Humboldt assures us that he never heard 
of such an instance; although the children 
