CONDOR VULTURE. 9 



period has no collar round the bottom of the neck. 

 Nothing can exceed the sagacity with which the 

 Condor perceives the scent of its prey at a distance, 

 or the boldness with which it flies down to seize it. 

 It preys both on dead and living animals, and two 

 birds will seize on a heifer, and begin their work 

 of destruction by picking the eyes and tearing the 

 tongue out. 



A method, of taking Condors alive is often prac- 

 tised in Peru and Quito, and is as follows, viz. A 

 cow or horse is killed; and in a little time the scent 

 of the carcase attracts the Condors, which are 

 suddenly seen in numbers in places where no one 

 would suppose they existed. They always begin 

 with the eyes and tongue, and then proceed to 

 devour the intestines, &c. When they are well 

 sated, they are too heavy and indolent to fly, and 

 the Indians take them easily with nooses. When 

 thus taken alive, the Condor is dull and timid for 

 the first hour, and then becomes extremely fero- 

 cious. Monsieur Humboldt had one in his pos- 

 session for some days, which it was dangerous to 

 approach. The Condor is extremely tenacious of 

 life, and will survive for a long time such wounds 

 as might be supposed to prove immediately fatal- 

 and such is the fullness of its plumage that it has 

 the power of resisting or repelling the force of a 

 ball fired at it from a gun. This indeed is not 

 peculiar to the Condor, but has been observed in 

 some other well-feathered and thick-skinned birds, 

 particularly those of the order Anseres. 



