6 Bird - Lore 



bly she has accepted her mininer's verdict that the quill she is wearing came 

 from a barn-yard fowl. Certainly, if you were to accuse her of promoting the 

 extinction of the Condor, she would question your sanity. Blissful ignorance 

 best describes her mental condition, so far as Condors are concerned; but how 

 about our Andean hunter? Does he show no regret for the destruction he has 

 wrought? If he does, it is largely tempered by the reward his activity has 

 brought him. His is not an environment designed to arouse an esthetic appre- 

 ciation of the Condor's flight, or to impress him with its economic value. To 

 his mind a living Condor is an asset to be reaHzed upon only by death. I rather 



A CONDOR TRAP IN THE ARGENTINE ANDES 



There were thirty-seven Condors in the trap when the photograph was made 



Photographed by Pernando Porta. 



suspect that his refusal to kill the birds for half the price he had been accus- 

 tomed to receive was more a matter of business than of sentiment, and that 

 when the price reaches its former level he will resume the chase. There is 

 neither law nor public opinion to say him nay, and why should we expect this 

 one man to differ from his fellows? 



Between innocence and ignorance, then, it will go hard with the Condor 

 unless some one comes to its rescue. Here it is that educated and organized 

 bird protectors come to the fore. Possibly they can exert small influence in the 

 Heart of the Andes, and by moral suasion alone they have not been completely 

 successful in the Center of Civilization ! But they have secured the passage, as 

 well as enforcement, of laws the effects of which reach to the furthermost 



