338 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of 

 the valley are formed by steep basaltic precipices^ 

 the Condor reappears. From these facts, says 

 Darwin, from whom I quote {Naturalist's Voyage 

 Round the World, p. 182), it seems that the Condors 

 require perpendicular cliffs. In Chili they haunt 

 during the greater part of the year the lower 

 country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night 

 several roost together in one tree ; but in the early 

 part of summer they retire to the most inaccessible 

 parts of the inner Cordillera, there to breed in 

 peace. As regards the expanse of wing in the 

 Condor, there appears to be some conflict of testi- 

 mony, although it may well be that the discrepancy 

 in the measurements which have been recorded is 

 due to the fact that they were taken from birds of 

 different ages and sexes. Thus, in the journal 

 above quoted, under date April 27, 1834, at Santa 

 Cruz, Patagonia, Darwin writes : "This day I shot 

 a Condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings 

 8 J feet, and from beak to tail 4 feet." From measure- 

 ments supplied by others it would appear that this 

 was quite a small one. In Ecuador, for example, 

 the largest seen by Mr Edward Whymper measured 

 10 feet 6 in. from tip to tip of extended wings, 

 although he remarked that most of those seen at 

 Antisana and elsewhere were not so much as 9 feet 

 ( Travels in the Andes). The experience of Captain 

 George Byam, the author of Wanderings in some of 

 the Western Republics of America, is instructive on 

 the subject of Condors. He saw many which 

 measured 1 2 feet in expanse of wing, and one of 



