JO CASSELL'S BOOK OF 1!IRT)S. 



The CONDORS, or WATTLED VULTURES (Sarcorhamphi), as three of the largest species 

 of True Vultures have been called, are at once recognisable by their comparatively slender bodies, 

 long narrow wings, and long tails. The tarsi are high and the toes large ; their neck is of moderate 

 size, and the head long ; the beak, compressed at the side, terminates in a powerful hook, which, in 

 the male, is decorated above the base of the upper mandible with a kind of fleshy comb, and, in 

 the region of the chin, with wattles or folds of skin. The nostrils are very peculiar in their formation, 

 not having the usual division between them. The plumage is composed of small, brightly coloured 

 feathers, and does not cover the whole body, some parts being left entirely bare. Unlike most of 

 their family, the males of the three known species of Condors are larger than the females. 



THE CONDOR. 



The Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus, or Sarcorhamphus condor) has been the subject of even 

 more extravagant tales than its European representative, the Lammergeier, as its name of Gryphus or 

 Griffin indicates ; indeed, the travellers of former times seem to have thought no anecdotes too 

 absurd to impose upon the popular mind either concerning the bird itself, or other productions of the 

 countries it inhabits. The plumage of the full-grown Condor is principally black, enlivened by a slight 

 metallic lustre ; the upper part of the wings is black, but all the quills are tipped with patches of 

 white, which become gradually so broad that the shoulder feathers are almost entirely white, and 

 only black at their origin. The back of the head, face, and throat are blackish grey, the neck flesh 

 colour, and the region of the crop pale red ; the fold of skin and two warty lappets on either side 

 of the throat of the male are bright red. In both sexes the neck is surrounded by a ruff of white 

 feathers ; the eyes are fiery red, the beak horn colour, and the feet dark brown. Humboldt gives the 

 dimensions of the Condor as follows : — The body three feet three inches, span across the wings eight 

 feet nine inches, and the tail fourteen inches. The female, according to the same authority, is one 

 inch shorter, and nine inches less in breadth. 



All the highlands of South America, from Quito to fifteen degrees south latitude, afford a home 

 to this huge bird, whose powers of flight are stupendous ; indeed, we are told on reliable authority 

 that it is capable of soaring to an altitude of -22,000 feet above the level of the sea, thus surpassing 

 any other member of the feathered race in its wonderful strength of wing. In Peru and Bolivia it lives 

 and breeds upon the sea-coast, but is by no means so numerous as in mountainous districts. Except 

 during the period of incubation, Condors fly in large parties, spending the entire day in sailing 

 majestically about in search of food, and pass the night perched upon one of their favourite ledges 

 or lofty pinnacles of rock. "Near Lima," says Mr. Darwin, "I once watched several Condors for half- 

 an-hour together. They moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, ascending and descending, 

 without once flapping their pinions. As they glided close to my head I intently watched from an 

 oblique position the outlines of the separate and terminal feathers of their wings. If there had been 

 the slightest vibratory motion these would have been blended together ; but they remained distinct 

 under the blue sky. If the bird wished to descend, the wings for a moment collapsed, and then, 

 when again expanded with an altered inclination, the momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed 

 to urge it upward with the steady, even motion of a paper kite." 



The food of these gigantic birds consists principally of carrion ; but they also destroy pumas, 

 vicunas, sheep, and even calves, and thus work terrible havoc among the flocks and herds of the 

 sturdy mountaineers, who are compelled to train their watch-dogs for the especial duty of barking 

 incessantly as long as one of these formidable marauders is within sight of their flocks. Modern 

 writers all agree in corroborating the statement of the Indians that this species never molests children, 

 and as much as possible avoids the vicinity of man, though, if actually attacked, it displays extra- 



