60 



THE CONDOR 



Voiv. X 



too small, and he jumped across back of her. He seemed to get more friendl}' and 

 the two sat there side by side, nibbling and caressing each other. 



We began crawling further up the ridge for a nearer picture. When we came 

 in full sight of the birds, to my surprise they paid no attention to us. We stopped 

 to take another picture and then climbed on up the steep rock with our cameras on 

 our backs. Under cover of a small bush, I came to a point directlj' opposite the 

 pair and only about forty feet away. Seeing the condors had no fear of me, I climbed 

 straight out to the edge of the ledge and made some exposures while the mother 

 sat preening her feathers. As neither bird seemed the least anxious as to our pres- 

 ence, I began to enjoy the sensation of getting so close to these big birds in their 

 wild mountain haunt. 



In a few minutes, the old male spread his wings and dropped off down the 

 canyon. The next time I saw him, he was a mere speck, soaring high above the 

 mountain. The mother kept turning her head and watching him all the while he 

 was in the sky. Finally she too sailed off. 



When we climbed around to the nest, we found the condor nestling had grown 

 from the size of the egg, or from about a double handful, till he filled my hat. The 



down on his body had changed color 



humped and 

 last stage of 

 saw me, he 



WITH FEATHERS RUFFLED UP AROUND 

 HIS EARS 



from a pure white to a light gray. In- 

 stead of the flesh color on his head and 

 neck, it had changed to a dull yellow. 

 He sat with his shoulders 

 his head hung as if in the 

 dejection. The minute he 

 began crying in a note most peculiar for 

 a bird, for it sounded exactly like the 

 hoarse tooting of a small tin horn. How- 

 ever, he only used this note a few times; 

 then he began hissing. He showed his 

 resentment by drawing in his breath and 

 letting it escape as if thru his nose. 

 His feet were short and stubby, ^the 

 feet of a scavenger. What a deteriora- 

 tion from the eagle ! The claws were 

 like those of a chicken rather than a bird of prey. The head, the bill and even 

 the look in the eye were very different from the savage expression of the eagle even 

 in his babyhood. 



When we. picked the youngster up in our hands, he objected in a feeble way by 

 trying to bite. Both the parents had left the vicinity, and we set him down at the 

 entrance of his home to get some pictures. One of the parents was soaring high in 

 the air, and he seemed to see his chick, for he began to descend rapidly. It looked 

 as if he had something in his talons, but when he came nearer, we could see his 

 legs and feet were hanging down as birds often do when about to alight. He 

 seemed to do this as an aid in dropping suddenly. He swept in near us and lit on 

 the old dead pine and was soon followed by his mate. The old birds looked so 

 serious as they sat there staring at us and their young, that we hesitated, for we 

 were not in a position for trouble there on the steep side of the mountain. But 

 they had no intention of stopping us in our work, for they seemed to take the whole 

 enterprise from the point of view of curiosity. 



There Tvas something ominous about the condors and their nest cave. Never a 

 sound came from the birds: they came and went like great black shadows. One 



