The California Condor 



Taken in Los Angeles C< 



Supplemental to nature, my two chief sources of information and 

 opinion regarding the Condor are, first, the remarkable series of articles 

 written by Mr. William L. Finley for "The Condor," 1 and, second, a 

 manuscript placed in my hands by Mr. Claude C. L. Brown, formerly of 

 Shandon. On the ioth of March, 1906, Messrs. W. L. Finley, Joseph 



Grinnell, and Walter P. Taylor 

 found a Condor's egg within twelve 

 days of hatching, on a secluded ledge 

 in the Sierra Madre Mountains. On 

 several later occasions Mr. Finley, 

 accompanied by his life-long partner 

 in adventures photographic, Mr. 

 Herman T. Bohlman, of Portland, 

 Oregon, returned to photograph the 

 young chick and to chronicle its 

 development. This bird, named 

 "General," was finally carried off to 

 Portland for further study, and 

 thence eventually found its way to 

 the New York Zoo, where it thrived 

 for some years. It is a matter for 

 the deepest congratulation that such 

 a painstaking and rewarding piece of 

 work could have been carried out 

 under competent management. 



Our second source book is the 

 manuscript already mentioned, an 

 essay upon the Condor which was 

 very generously placed at my dis- 

 posal when, in 191 1, its author, still 

 a young man, quitted the scene of his former labors. Mr. Brown had 

 exceptional opportunity for study, near his birthplace, as well as excep- 

 tional enthusiasm for his task, and I attach great importance to much 

 which he has to offer. In both these cases men who came to have an 

 intimate knowledge of the Condor felt for the bird not only admiration, 

 but a genuine affection, such as we might display toward a trusted dog or 

 faithful horse, doubtless less than human, but assuredly more than brute. 

 It is not from the mere circumstance of the bird's rarity, then, that 

 we approach the study of the Condor with a feeling of admiration akin 

 to awe, for the Condor is first of all a gentleman — or must we say a gentle- 

 bird? Although quite the largest of flying birds, not being exceeded in 



L. Finley and H. 



STILL ANXIOUS 



•"Life History of the California Condor." Four Parts: 

 March, 1908; Vol. XII., Jan. 1910 — all leading articles. 



Vol. VIII., Nov. 1906; Vol. X., Jan. 1908; Vol. X., 



1726 



