BIRDS. 



Family— VULTURID^. 

 Sarcoramphus gryphus. Bonap. 



Vultur gryphus, Linn. 



, Humb. Zoolog. p. 31. 



Sarcoramphus Condor, D'Orbigny. Voy. Ois. 

 Condor of the inhabitants of South America. 



The Condor is known to have a wide range, being found on the west coast of 

 South America, from the Strait of Magellan, throughout the range of the Cordil- 

 lera, as far, according to M. D'Orbigny, as 8° north latitude. On the Patagonian 

 shore, the steep cliff near the mouth of the Rio Negro, in latitude 41°, was the 

 most northern point where I ever saw these birds, or heard of their existence ; 

 and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great central line 

 of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices which 

 form the head of Port Desire, they are not uncommon ; yet only a few stragglers 

 occasionally visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa 

 Cruz is frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the 

 sides of the valley were formed by steep basaltic precipices, the Condor again 

 appeared, although in the intermediate space not one had been seen. From 

 these and similar facts, I believe that the presence of this bird is chiefly determined 

 by the occurrence of perpendicular clifTs. In Patagonia the Condors, either 

 by pairs or many together, both sleep and breed on the same overhanging 

 ledges. In Chile, however, during the greater part of the year, they haunt the 

 lower country, near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost 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. 



b 2 



