Birds of Prey and Owls 



465 



off my eyes ; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, 

 descending and ascending, without giving a single flap." One 

 which he shot measured, from tip to tip of the fully expanded 

 wings, 8| feet. 



The condor, like its smaller relati\'es, hunts by sight, and 

 not, as was at one time believed, by smell, feeding on the dead 

 bodies of guanacos which have died a natm-al death or lieen 

 killed by pumas, and upon other dead animals. In the 

 neighbourhood where sheep and goats are ke[)t, they are 

 much dreaded, as they will attack the young kids and iambs. 

 The flock-owners on this account wage constant war against 

 them, capturing them by enclosing a carcase within a narrow 

 space, and when the condors are gorged galloping up on 

 horseback and killing them, for when this bird has not space 

 to run it cannot rise from the ground. Sometimes the trees 

 on which they roost are marked, and when night fills a man 

 climbs the tree and captures them with a noose, for they are 

 very heavy sleepers. 



The condor ranges from the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, 

 and Chili southwards to the Rio Negro on the east coast 

 of Patagonia. It lays two large white eggs on a shelf of 

 bare rock projecting from precipitous cliffs, and the young 

 are said to be unable to fly till after they are a year old. 

 As will be seen in the photographs, the head of the male is 

 crowned by a bare, fleshy caruncle, which, like the surrounding 

 bare skin, is of a dull reddish colour : lower down the neck is 

 a frill of pure white down, which forms a conspicuous contrast 

 with the glossy black plumage of the rest of the body and wings. 



The King-vulture is a much smaller bird, but the bare parts of the head are much more 

 brilliantly, even gaudily 

 coloured, the combinations 

 being orange, purple, and 

 crimson. The plumage is 

 creamy white and black. It 

 is a comparatively rare bird, 

 and but little is known con- 

 cerning its breeding habits. 

 The female is much more 

 soberly clad than her mate. 

 The king-vulture has a more 

 northerly range than the 

 condor, extending from Brazil 

 to JMexico, Texas, and Plorida. 

 The commonest of the 

 New World vultures is the 

 Turkey-buzzard, which is 

 found over the whole of 

 temperate and tropical 

 America. Of the four species 

 commonly known as Turkey- 

 buzzards, three are exclusively 

 South American — the fourth 



59 



Plcoto by W. P. Druidn, F.Z.S., Regeaf.i J'ark. 



KING-VULTUKE. 



Tlie fleshy crest on the beak is developed in 

 the fenijiles as well hs in the males. 



II I II I I / ^ 



BLAClv \ Ui^i U KLS. 



^Yhen distiubed, these birds eject foul-smelling matter. 



