ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY HCLLKTIN. 



1.69 



It is the intention 

 of the writer soon to 

 attempt this. A Tur- 

 key Buzzard escaped 

 in June. 1006, from 

 our Flying Cage and 

 in the following April, 

 after the winter had 

 passed, it returned 

 and soared about our 

 Bird Valley for days. 

 A dozen of these birds 

 will be quartered in an 

 open paddock, t h e i r 

 w i n g s clipped and 

 dead stubs provided 

 for them to perch up- 

 on. An abundance of 

 food will be provided, 

 and it is hoped that as 

 the moult proceeds 

 and they gradually re- 

 acquire the power of 

 flight, they will be 

 content to remain, or 

 at least return yearly 

 to this land of plenty. 



THE CALIFORNIA^ 

 CONDOR. 



When a species of 

 bird becomes so rare 

 that every individual is 

 worthy of a detailed 



life history, then indeed its days of existence are 

 numbered. Such is the splendid Condor of 

 California, which once ranged the mountains of 

 the Pacific from Washington to Mexico. When 

 herds of sheep and cattle were corralled among 

 the mountains, poison was used to protect them 

 from the inroads of bears and pumas. The in- 

 nocent suffered as well, and the Condors were 

 rapidly killed off. Now they are restricted to a 

 comparatively few miles of the coastal ranges in 

 southern and Lower California. 



The Californian Condor is one of the largest 

 birds of flight living on the earth to-day. Its 

 length is nearly four feet and the extent of wing 

 averages nine, with an extreme record of eleven 

 feet, four inches. With all this magnificent 

 stretch of wing, the average weight is only 

 twenty pounds, twenty-six being the maximum. 

 The bare head and neck of the adult is bright 

 orange and yellow, and the plumage in general 

 is sooty black. Many of the lesser wing feath- 

 ers are edged and tipped with gray or white, and 

 the under wing-coverts are pure white. 



There are naturally very few of these birds 

 .-dive in captivity. The Washington Zoological 



Copyright, 1907, by H. T. Bohlman an 

 PARENT CONDOR COM 



1 XViri.L. Finley. 



1NG TO THE NEST. 



Park is f o r I u n a t e 



e n O U g ll to possrss 



three. The New York 

 Zoological Society has 

 had two individuals. 

 O n e w a s purchased 

 March 1 1-th, 1905, and 

 live d until October 

 17th of the following 

 year, when some de- 

 spicable specimen of 

 humanity threw a rub- 

 ber band into the cage 

 of the Condor. The 

 band was swallowed 

 and resulted in the 

 death of the bird. 



Condor n u m b e r 

 t w o * w a s obtained 

 from Mr. Finley on 

 October 6th, 1906, and 

 is still in ]> e r f e c t 

 health, not having as 

 yet acquired the col- 

 oring of the adult, al- 

 though the bird is two 

 and a half years old. 

 An account of the 

 habits in captivity of 

 "General," a s this 

 C o n d o r has b e e n 

 n a m e d . has already 

 been given in the Zoo- 

 in Mr. Finley s own 

 able to give a brief 



logical Society Bulletin 



words, f We are here 



resume of the facts in the life history of this 



very bird now living at the Zoological Park, up 



to the time of his capture. 



As long ago as 1895 a pair of California 

 Condors were known to be nesting somewhere 

 in a maze of steep canyons among the moun- 

 tains of southern California. But year after 

 year they eluded all searchers, and not until 

 March 10th. 1906, was the nest discovered. 

 Several persons tramped about the nest, shouting 

 and calling, but not until a pistol was fired in 

 the air did the old bird leave her home. 



A huge boulder protruded from the steep 

 mountain-side, and against this leaned a stone 

 slab some ten feet in height. Behind was a 

 cave measuring two by six feet and open at both 

 ends, and on the floor, which was carpeted with 



The facts concerning the life history and the illus- 

 trations of this individual are given by permission of 

 Mr. William L. Finley. who has already published 

 them in "The Condor" and "The Century Magazine." 

 t/.ooT.ooic'Ai. Society Buixetis \h. 34, Januarv, 

 1907, pages 318-320. 



