THE LARGEST BIRDS THAT FLY ^i'] 



of one of these eagles, the bird flying slowly and 

 low over the surface of the water, but still quite 

 steadily." 



He once saw an eagle of this species on the 

 river Jumna capture a fish so large that the bird 

 only with difficulty succeeded in reaching a low 

 sandbank in the river with its prey. As it made 

 for this bank it flew so low, and with such difficulty, 

 that the writhing fish in its claws struck the water 

 €very few yards, and twice seemed likely to pull its 

 persecutor under water. On reaching the sand- 

 bank some 250 yards distant from the observer, a 

 shot from his rifle caused it to quit the fish, which 

 was then recovered and found to be a Carp {Cyprinus 

 rokita), weighing over 13 lb., that is, considerably 

 heavier than its captor. For the reasons above 

 given, such a feat would be impossible for the 

 Lammergeier. 



Come we now to the Condor of South America, 

 a bird which is known to have a wide geographical 

 range. It is found on the west coast, from the 

 Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far as 

 eight degrees north of the equator. The steep 

 cliff near the mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern 

 limit on the Patagonian coast, and they have there 

 wandered about 400 miles from the great central 

 line of their habitation in the Andes. Further 

 south, among the bold precipices at the head of 

 Port Desire, the Condor is not uncommon ; yet 

 only a few stragglers occasionally visit the sea 

 coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa 

 Cruz, Patagonia, is frequented by these birds, and 



