The Condoe. 565 



The old names of Vultur gryphus, Y. Magellanicus, 

 Gypagus grijffus, and Zopilotes, are obsolete, and Sarco- 

 rmnpkus gryjyhus is universally adopted. But it is not 

 yet settled that it is generically distinct from the other 

 great vultures. Thus Sclater and Gurney put the Condor 

 alone in Savcoramphus ; while Gray and Strickland in- 

 clude the King Vulture ; and Vieillot and others add a 

 third — the California Vulture. The structure and habits 

 of the Condor, in my judgment, make it worthy to stand 

 by itself. The King Vulture belongs more especially to 

 the plains ; while the California species has straggling 

 feathers on its head, builds nests iu trees, where it perches, 

 and its time of incubation is only one month. 



But a more important question, perhaps, is whether there 

 is but one species. Associated with the Great Condor is 

 a smaller vulture, having brown or ash-coloi-ed plumage 

 instead of black and white, a beak wholly black instead of 

 black at the base and white at the tip, and no caruncle. 

 It inhabits the high altitudes, and is rather common. This 

 was formerly thought to be a distinct species, but lately 

 ornithologists have pronounced it the young of the Sarco- 

 ramphus gvypTius. I wish this decision to be reconsider- 

 ed, for there is some ground for the belief that the first 

 impression is correct ; that the " Condor pardo " (as the 

 brown kind is called by the natives) is specifically distinct 

 from the greater " Condor negro." They are always spok- 

 en of as separate kinds at Quito, where certainly it would 

 be known if one were the young of the other. 



Mr. John Smith, an Englishman of intelligence and 

 acute observation, and a resident of nearly twelve years 

 on the slope of Antisana, where both kinds abound, said 

 to me, " I have heard it said that the Brown Condor is the 

 young of the Black. It can not possibly be, for I have 

 seen young Condors with white beaks and a few white 



