340 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



in with seven or eight Condors, one of which he 

 tried in vain to stalk. 



" It is," he says, " a truly magnificent bird when 

 seen wild and on the wing ; and one cannot be 

 surprised that the most exaggerated accounts were 

 given by the older travellers of the dimensions to 

 which it attains, as much as i8 feet having been 

 sometimes assigned to the expanse of wing." 



This, of course, is mere guesswork, and not an 

 ascertained measurement. Some idea of the size 

 of the. bird may be gained from an inspection of its 

 furcula, of which he gives a figure (p. 303) from a 

 specimen picked up on the beach. 



If weight alone were a criterion of size, the 

 Steamer Duck of the Falkland Islands {Micropterus 

 cinereus — Anas brachyptera of Latham) would 

 challenge comparison with some of the birds 

 above named. The largest obtained by Dr 

 Cunningham, who gives an excellent account of it 

 {pp. cit., p. 93), measured 3 feet 4 in. from bill to tail 

 and weighed 13 lb., while Captain Cook mentions in 

 his Voyage that the weight of one was 19 lb. Captain 

 Philip King, who observed this " gigantic oceanic 

 duck " at the Falklands, described it as the largest 

 he had ever seen ( Voyage of the Adventure, i. p. 

 36), and remarked upon the small size of the wings, 

 which, "not having sufficient power to raise the 

 body, serve only to propel it along rather than 

 through the water, and are used like the paddles of 

 a steam vessel. Aided by these and its strong, 

 broad-webbed feet, it moves with astonishing 

 rapidity. It would not be an exaggeration to state 



