OR, PLAIN 



Elevated upon a high, dead limb of some 

 gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the 

 neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly 

 to contemplate the motions of the various fea- 

 thered tribes that pursue their busy avocations 

 below — the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing 

 the air ; the busy tringce, coursing along the 

 sands ; trains cf ducks, streaming over the sur- 

 face ; silent and watchful cranes, intent and 

 wading; clamorous crows, and ail the winged 

 multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this 

 vast liquid magazine of nature. High over aJl 

 these hovers one, whose action instantly arrests 

 all the eagle's attention. He knows him to be 

 the fish- hawk, settling over some devoted victim 

 of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight ; and, 

 balancing himself with half-opened wings on 

 the branch, he watches the result. Down, 

 rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the 

 distant object of his attention, the roar of its 

 wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the 

 deep, making the foam surge around. At this_ 

 moment the eager looks of the eagle are all ar- 

 dour, and, levelling his neck for flight, he sees 

 the fish- hawk once more emerging, struggling 

 with his prey, and mounting in the air with 

 screams of exultation. These are a signal for 

 our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly 

 gives chase ; soon gains on the fish-hawk; each 

 exerts his utmost to mount above the other, 

 displaying in the rencontre the most elegant and 

 sublime aerial volutions. The unencumbered 

 eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point 

 of reaching his opponent, when, with a sudden 

 scream, probably of despair and honest execra- 

 tion, the latter drops his fish, 4 ; the eagle, 

 poising himself for a moment, as if to take 

 more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, 

 snatches it in his grasp ere it reaches the water, 

 and bears his ill-gotten booty away to the 

 woods.* 



The condor, 5, is a remarkable 

 member of the vulture family, 



5 



419. 



diurnal birds of prey, which have 

 been designated the " winged 



TEACHING. 119 



scavengers of the land," because 

 they devour dead bodies, which 

 they fly long distances in search 

 of. But the condor does not ex- 

 clusively feed upon putrefying or 

 dead flesh ; he attacks and de- 

 stroys deer, vicugnas, and other 

 quadrupeds of moderate size ; 

 and, when pinched by hunger, a 

 pair of these birds will attack a 

 bullock, and by repeated wounds 

 with their beaks and claws, ha- 

 rass him until, from fatigue, he 

 thrusts out his tongue, which 

 they immediately seize and de- 

 stroy ; they also pluck out his 

 eyes, and follow the poor beast 

 until he falls down, and becomes 

 their prey. 



Upon a chain of mountains, whose summits, 

 lifted far above the highest clouds, are robed in 

 snows coeval with creation, we find a race of 

 birds, whose magnitude and might, compared - 

 with others of the feathered kind, is in some- 

 thing like the proportion of their huge domi- 

 ciles to earth's ordinary elevations. Above all 

 animal life, and at the extreme limit of even 

 Alpine vegetation, these birds prefer to dwell, 

 inhaling an air too highly rarified to be endured, 

 unless by creatures expressly adapted thereto. 

 From such immense elevations they soar, still 

 more sublimely, upwards into the dark blue 

 heavens, until their great bulk diminishes to a 

 scarcely perceptible speck, or is lost to the 

 aching sight of the observer. In these pure 

 fields of ether, unvisited even by the thunder- 

 cloud—regions which may be regarded as his 

 own exclusive domain — the condor delights to 

 sail, and with piercing glance surveys the sur- 

 face of the earth, towards which he never 

 stoops his wing, unless at the call of hunger.* 



The condor makes no nest, but 

 lays two large white eggs on the 

 bare rock. The young birds for 

 many months are covered only 

 with a fine thick down, and, un- 

 able to fly, are attended by the 

 parent bird a whole year. 



At mature age the prevailing colour of the 

 male is glossy black, with a tinge of grey. The 

 greater wing-coverts, except at the base and 

 tips, and the secondary quill-feathers, are white, 

 and a white ruff of downy feathers encircles 

 the base of the neck ; the crest or comb, which 

 is fleshy, or rather cartilaginous, occupies th# 



* Popular Encvclopfc no. 



