CHAP. X. RANGE OF THE CONDOR. 203 



usual routine, I think such instances must be rare ; and that the 

 upper limit of its habitual range cannot be higher than 16,000 feet. 



19,00c 

 iS,ooo 

 17,000 

 16,000 



S 



^^ --. R 



H 





15,000 



\ 



'^'^^---^'^^^ 





14,000 





^^~~ ^-^^--=.. 











— 



Though some of these birds were in captivity at Quito, we 

 saw none at liberty so low as 9000 feet, and were unable to learn 

 that they ever visited the sea. Mr. J. S. Wilson, who had lived 

 for twenty-five years in Ecuador, and passed the greater part 

 of that time upon the coast, told me that he had never known 

 one to come down to the plains, or heard of such an occurrence. 

 I imagine, therefore, that the Equatorial Condor very seldom 

 descends to the Pacific. It seems, indeed, probable that it never 

 does so. It is said that those which are despatched (in confine- 

 ment) from the interior to the coast invariably die before reaching 

 Guayaquil.^ Yet it is an undoubted fact that Condors frequent 

 the sea-shore in more southern parts of South America. Whether 

 the same individual birds also soar to great heights, and are speci- 

 fically the same as the Condor of the Equator, are questions that 

 I am unable to answer. If there are no marked points of differ- 

 ence between them, it will be ascertained that this species has a 

 range in altitude of about 16,000 feet (not in any one country, 

 but spread over thirty degrees of latitude) and this is perhaps the 

 greatest that is possessed by any bird. 



On the few occasions upon which we were approached by 

 Condors in a menacing manner, we became aware of their presence 



1 This happened to some which were sent by Baron Gabriel de Grunzburg from 

 Quito to Guayaquil, while I was in Ecuador. 



