April, 1834. condor. 219 



April. 27th. — The bed of the river became rather nar- 

 rower, and hence the stream more rapid. It here ran at tlie 

 rate of six knots an hour. From this cause, and from the 

 many great angular fragments, tracking the boats became 

 both dangerous and laborious. 



This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of 

 the wings, eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. 

 It is a magnificent spectacle to behold several of these great 

 birds seated on the edge of some steep precipice. I will here 

 describe all I have observed respecting their habits. The 

 condor is known to have a vnde geographical range, being 

 found on the west coast of South America, from the Strait of 

 Magellan throughout the entire range of the Cordillera. On 

 the Patagonian shore, the steep cliif near the mouth of the Rio 

 Negro in lat. 41°, was the most northern point where I saw 

 these birds, or heard of their existence. They have there 

 wandered about four hundred miles from the great central 

 line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among 

 the bold precipices which form the head of Port Desire, they 

 are not uncommon ; yet only a few stragglers occasionally 

 visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of St. Cruz, 

 is frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the 

 river, where first the sides of the valley were formed by 

 steep basaltic precipices, the condor again appeared, although 

 in the intermediate space not one had been seen. From 

 these and similar facts, the presence of this bird seems 

 chiefly to be determined by the occurrence of perpendicular 

 cliffs. In Patagonia, the condors either by pairs or many 

 together, both sleep and breed on the same overhanging 

 ledges. In Chile, during the greater part of the year, they 

 haunt the lower country near the shores of the Pacific, 

 and at night several roost in one tree ; but in the early part 

 of summer, they retire to the most inaccessible parts of the 

 inner Cordillera, there to breed in peace. 



With respect to their propagation, I was told by the 

 country people in Chile, that the condor makes no sort of 



