Mar., 1907 



AN EXPERIENCE WITH THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONDOR 



45 



called to this particular pair when we first neared the point by their darting to- 

 ward us with a rush of wings and threatening screams. On the clear cold autumnal 

 morning of March 18, 1904, Martin and I equipped ourselves with firearms and 

 went out to captitre the birds. As he neared the edge of the pampa the birds 

 soared out from the cliffs and circling came back toward him. His first shot 

 tipped a wing of the male which wheeled and came down toward the beach where I 

 had stationed myself. The second shot killed the female which fell on the ocean 

 side of a landslide, high above the beach. 



At this point the pampa has at some time in the past broken away in one 

 gigantic piece, at least four hundred feet long and about one hundred and fifty feet 

 across the top. The whole lump had slipped downward and outward about two 

 hundred and fifty feet from its original position, leaving a perpendicular wall and 

 wide crack or hollow which was then partially filled with earth and stones worn 

 from the exposed surfaces. It was impossible from the beach "to see the edge of 



NESTING SITE OFTPIE SOUTH AMERICAN CONDOR, ON SEA-CEII'F 

 THE YOUNG BIRD ON THE NEST-EEDGH TO 'JTIE RIGHT 



NOTE 



the pampa immediately above on account of the landslide, which towered aloft two 

 hundred and fifty feet; and on the other hand, the slope of the landslide oceanward, 

 as well as the beach, was invisible from the pampa above. 



The male tho within two hundred feet of the beach before he saw me below 

 him was able to continue his gliding descent for at least a quarter of a mile up the 

 beach against the wind, and reaching the ground with wings outstretched to gain 

 advantage from the breeze ran with gigantic strides up the hard pebbly shore. In 

 spite of his broken wing he led me a weary chase for more than a mile and a half 

 before I gained sufficiently on him to plant a fatal shot from the little twenty-two I 

 carried, just as he walked into the surf; and in order to finally get my hands on 

 him I was obliged to run into the water to prevent his being washed entirely out of 

 my reach. The female was found on a dangerous slope two hundred feet above the 

 base of the cliff. 



