Mar., 1908 LIFE HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR. PART III 



61 



minute you might see a mere speck in the clouds, and a few moments later this 

 creature with a wing-spread of ten feet, would skim past only a few yards above 

 your head. There was hardly a swish of the wings to tell of his presence. 



April 25th, the next trip we made to the home of the condor, the pair of old 

 birds met us at the mouth of the canyon. One of the birds sailed out over the top 

 of the mountain, quite high in the sky. In a moment the second bird followed low- 

 er down. They were perhaps out for a short morning fly after attending to affairs 

 at home. The lower bird, likely the female, soon fiew back up the canyon, while 

 the other sailed straight out over the valley toward the east. 



Four hours later, I edged down the steep rock as quietly as possible with my 

 reflex camera in hand and worked my way along to the nest. When I got where I 

 could look thru the crack into the cave, there sat the old condor mother sound 

 asleep. She was brooding her nestling. I dropped back behind a bush and got 

 my camera ready. It was too dark to catch her as she left, but I thought she might 

 pause at the threshold and give me a chance for a picture. Then with my camera 

 ready to snap, I gave a short 

 whistle to arouse her. Then 

 moving a little closer, I gave 

 a louder whistle. In an in- 

 stant she knew I was there, 

 for she plunged headlong out 

 from behind the rock and lit 

 scared and half dazed on her 

 perch a short distance away. 



When we stooped to look at 

 the nestling in the cave, he 

 jumped right out at us. He 

 was in a savage mood. If his 

 mother would not sta3^ to de- 

 fend him, he intended to fight 

 for himself. I could see that 

 he was developing good fight- 

 ing qualities. His mother 

 might have showed fight too, 

 if she were cornered as he was. 



The young condor was 

 growing steadily, for he was now thirty-five days old and as large as a good-sized 

 chicken. His whole body was covered with dark gray down with the outer edgings 

 of lighter gray. When I put down my elbow, he lunged forward and struck it 

 such a hard blow with his bill that it would have drawn blood had he hit my bare 

 hand. The minute I appeared, his neck puffed out with wind and his whole crop 

 filled till it felt just like a rubber ball. He seemed to use his crop as a supply tank 

 for air, which he blew out slowly thru his nose to express his anger. He sat with 

 his head down and mouth open. The front part of his tongue was round and it 

 folded over from each side and met in a little crease down the front. About an inch 

 back, it looked as if it were partly cut in two, for it was narrower and flatter. Such 

 a breath as that youngster had ! I could not describe it, and I tried to forget it as 

 soon as possible. 



That evening we watched the old condor to see if she would go back to the 

 nest. But at six o'clock she settled down on her perch with her head drawn in, 

 and went to sleep. The young condor had to sleep alone. 



ONB CONDOR BECAME TOO AMOROUS AND CROWDED 

 THE OTHER OFF THE PERCH 



