114 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



reported that two condors had been seen flying about the top 

 of the cliffs, and that one had been fired at and apparently- 

 wounded. Accordingly, soon after, I started to look for 

 them, walking along the beach at the base of the cliffs. On 

 coming nearly opposite the place where they had been 

 reported as seen, I was much excited by suddenly coming 

 within sight of no less than eight of these huge birds, half 

 the number of which were perched on a shelf about mid- 

 way up the cliff, which appeared to be habitually employed 

 as a resting-place, as it was whitened with their droppings ; 

 while the remaining four were sailing majestically about in 

 the air, their wings widely extended and the pinions sepa- 

 rated so as to produce a jagged edge at the tip. Although 

 the gun which I had with me was only loaded with duck- 

 shot, I felt impelled by an irresistible desire to get a shot at 

 them ; and accordingly, at the expense of much labour and 

 difficulty, managed to scramble up the lower part of the cliff 

 by dint of planting my feet in the numerous waterworn 

 guUeys in the hard clay. I had almost attained to within 

 range of those on the shelf, when they slowly flapped their 

 great wings and rose into the air, joining their companions, 

 the whole party now soaring round in a circle above my 

 head, gazing at me with malevolent faces, their whole aspect 

 recalling to me the mythical descriptions of griffins. Although, 

 in common with the rest of its tribe, the condor {Sarcoramphus 

 Papa) is disfigured by a naked head, covered with mottled 

 skin, it is a truly magnificent bird when seen in the wild 

 condition and on the wing ; and one cannot be surprised 

 that the most exaggerated accounts were given by the older 

 travellers of the dimensions to which it attains — as much 

 as eighteen feet having been sometimes assigned to the 

 expanse of wing. It is widely distributed over the western 



