198 



THE KATIONAE GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A rET CALIl'ORXIA CONDOR 



He was fond of playing in the sand by the river and sunning himself. He liked company and 

 followed the camera man around like a household pet. 



of these animals was by baiting the car- 

 casses with poison. Since Condors came 

 to feed on carcasses, many of these birds 

 were killed in this way. 



CONDORS RAISE ONLY ONE BIRD A YEAR 



The Turkey Vulture has held its own 

 in the struggle for existence against these 

 forces, but the Condor is slow in recuper- 

 ating its numbers. Even under favorable 

 conditions, each pair of Condors will raise 

 only one young Ijird a year. There is no 

 existing authentic record of a California 

 Condor laying more than a single egg at 

 a sitting. One collector states that in a 

 certain locality where a pair of these birds 

 live, they have nested but three times in 

 12 years. 



Under these conditions, it is not siu"- 

 prising that Condor ntunbers have de- 

 creased, and unless careful protection is 

 given, the bird will soon follow the Great 

 Auk. 



The Condor egg which we found on 

 March lo was hatched on March 22. 



During the montlis of April, May, Jiune, 

 and July we made frequent pilgrimages 



back over the rough mountain trails to 

 this rocky shrine in order to study the 

 home life of these birds and to watch the 

 growth of the young Condor. On July 5, 

 when the young Condor was about three 

 and a half months old, he weighed 15 

 pounds. In order to complete our studies, 

 we took the nestling to our Oregon home. 

 It was not imtil the middle of August 

 that he was well fledged, except that his 

 breast was still covered with gray down. 

 With his wings extended, he measured 

 almost nine feet. 



The slow growth of the Condor is 

 shown by the fact that from the time the 

 single egg is laid it takes a full six months 

 or more for the parents to raise their oflf- 

 spring. In the case of a Sparrow or 

 Robin, the time required for rearing a 

 family is less than one month. 



On Septem1)er 28 the young Condor 

 was sent to the New York Zoological 

 Park, where he was well cared for and 

 lived to the age of 11 years (see p. 194)' 



The Condor of the Andes has long 

 been considered the largest bird that flies. 

 It averages about 10 feet from tip to tip, 



