176 CLASS AVES. 



geyer of the Alps of Switzerland and the Tyrol, from beak to 

 tail, is usually four feet lono;. Its common envergure, seven or 

 eiffht feet accordin"; to M. Bechstein, nine or ten accordins: to 

 Gmelin. Some individuals have been seen with an extent of 

 fourteen feet. M. Salerne relates, that in France, at the cha- 

 teau of Mylourdin, a vulture of this species was shot, measuring 

 eighteen feet in the envergure. If this be true, our Eurojiean 

 vultures exhibit specimens of colossal size fully equalling the 

 most exaggerated accounts of the most credulous or lying tra- 

 vellers concerning the condor. 



The nature of the regions inhabited by the condor has, 

 without question, contributed to produce these marvellous no- 

 tions concerning the conformation of its body. These animals 

 are considerably larger than the vultur aura, the vultur papa, 

 and other rapacious birds inhabiting the chain of the Andes. 

 They are generally beheld perched in the most solitary stations, 

 often on the crest of the naked rocks which border on the 

 lower bounds of the everlasting snows. Isolated and remote 

 from every living being to which it is possible to compare him, 

 the condor presents himself in contrast only with the blue 

 depths of the horizon. This remarkable station, and the large 

 crest of the male condor, makes the bird appear much larger 

 than in reality he is. M. de Humboldt himself was long 

 deceived in this way during his visits to the desert summits of 

 these volcanos. He believed the condors to be of a very 

 gigantic size ; and it was only by a direct measurement of the 

 bird when dead, that he could be convinced of the effect of 

 this optical illusion. 



If the laemmer-geyer of Switzerland, and the condors, be the 

 largest animals which nature has endowed with the faculty of 

 elevating themselves in the air ; and if, in their habits, auda- 

 city, and strength, these two species bear a striking mutual 

 resemblance ; they are yet very different from each other in 

 physiognomical characters. The vultur barbatus has neither 

 the naked head, the nasal crest, nor the collar of white down. 



