296 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



Another way is to find the trees in which very often 

 five or six Condors will go to roost, and then at night to 

 climb up and slip a cord over each of them. Being heavy 

 sleepers this is by no means difficult. 



A third way is more original. It is practised by the 

 Indians of Chili and Peru. One of them creeps under a 

 fresh cow-hide, to which pieces of flesh are still adhering, 

 and which has been spread out on some tract of high 

 ground. He takes with him some pieces of stout cord, 

 and his comrades are concealed near by, ready to come to 

 his assistance. Down swooj)s a Condor, alighting on the 

 supposed dead cow, and is immediately gripped by the 

 legs and secured with the cords. 



Live Condors may often be bought in the town and 

 village markets for any price from one to eight or ten 

 shillings. A Condor in good condition is a very handsome 

 bird. For although the bare fleshy growth which comes 

 down " over the nose " has rather an odd appearance, the 

 ruff of white down, round the base of the neck, and the 

 glossy black of the back and wings make a very striking 

 contrast. 



The CALIFORNIAN VULTURE rivals the Condor, 

 it would seem, in point of size. He is a brownish-black 

 bird, with a band of white under the wings which is very 

 noticeable when he is flying. He makes his home among 

 rocks and cliffs too high and steep and lonely for any one 

 to be tempted into robbing the nest. 



There seem to be a good many of his tribe in the 

 solitudes of the Sierra Nevada, and if he did not ranare 

 abroad he would be pretty safe. But his enormous 

 wings— often ten feet across — carry him far and wide. 

 Often he seeks the haunts of man, and thereby runs into 

 danger. For on many of the cattle ranches there is a 



