242 CALIFORNIAN VULTURE. 



round, deep orange, with a few short scattered feathers on the fore 

 part, at the root of the beak. Iris pale red, pupil light green. Neck 

 11 inches long, 9 round, of a changeable colour, brownish-yellow, with 

 blue tints. Body 24 inches long, black or slightly brown. Collar and 

 breast feathers lanceolate, decomposed, white on the outside near the 

 points. Quills 34, the third the longest. Extent between the tips of 

 the wings 9 feet 3 inches. Under coverts white ; upper coverts white 

 at the points. Tarsi 4|ths of an inch long, bluish-black ; claws black, 

 blunt, having little cm-vature. Tail of 14 feathers, square at the ends, 

 15 inches long. In plumage both sexes are alike ; in size the female 

 is somewhat larger. 



" These gigantic birds, which represent the Condor in the northern 

 hemisphere, are common along the coast of California, but are never 

 seen beyond the woody parts of the coimtry. I have met with them as 

 far to the north as 49° N. latitude, in the summer and autumn months, 

 but nowhere so abimdantly as in the Columbian Valley between the 

 Grand Rapids and the Sea. They build their nests in the most se- 

 cret and impenetrable parts of the pine forests, invariably selecting the 

 loftiest trees that overhang precipices on the deepest and least accessi- 

 ble parts of the mountain valleys. The nest is large, composed of 

 strong thorny twigs and grass, in every way similar to that of the Eagle 

 tribe, but more slovenly constructed. The same pair resorts for seve- 

 ral years to the same nest, bestowing little trouble or attention in re- 

 pairing it. Eggs two^ nearly spherical, about the size of those of a 

 goose, jet blade. Period of incubation twenty-nine or thirty-one days. 

 They hatch generally about the first of June. 



" The young are covered with thick whitish down, and are incapable 

 of leaving the nest until the fifth or sixth week. Food carrion, dead fish, 

 or other dead animal substances. In no instance will they attack any 

 livinsr animal unless it be wounded and unable to walk. Their senses 

 of smelling and seeing are remarkably keen. In searching for prey 

 they soar to a very great altitude, and when they discover a woimded 

 deer or other animal, they follow its track, and, when it sinks, precipi- 

 tately descend on their object. Although only one is at first seen oc^ 

 cupying the concave, few minutes elapse before the prey is surroimded 

 by great numbers, and it is then devoured to a skeleton within an hour, 

 even though it be one of the larger animals, Cervus Elaphtis, for in- 

 stance, or a horse. Their voracity is almost unsatiable, and they are 



