Vol. (5] Miller: Condor-like Vultures of Rancho La Brea. 



3 



smaller quarry. The evidence from Rancho La Brea bears out 

 the otherwise very natural conclusion that Gymnogyps calif or- 

 nianus was far more abundant at the time these beds were formed 

 than it is at present. 



ATTKACTIVENESS OF THE LOCALITY. 



The attractions offered at the asphalt beds during the 

 entombment of Pleistocene forms were probably more effective 

 with the vultures than with any other bird group. Vultures 

 are not averse to fresh meat, and according to Finley 1 prefer it 

 to carrion. The Andean condor is reported to follow and attack 

 disabled animals 2 . The author has seen the turkey vulture, 

 (Cathartes aura) drive the marsh hawk (Circus) from its prey. 

 At another time one of these birds was surprised feeding upon 

 the body of a skunk from which the fresh blood ran. Without 

 much question the bird had killed this rather inactive animal 

 which depends for defense upon a weapon ineffective with 

 the vultures. It would thus appear that the struggling victim of 

 the asphalt might have formed an especially attractive lure for 

 the vulture. The lure, however, did not become ineffective with 

 the cessation of the animal's struggle or even witli its partial 

 decomposition. The bait was thus out for the scavenger longer 

 than for the more distinctly predaeeous raptor. 



According to uncontrovertable evidence obtained by Mr. 

 Joseph Grinnell of the University of California, in trapping for 

 foxes with concealed bait, the turkey vulture is attracted by the 

 smell of its food and great numbers of these birds were caught 

 in his steel traps. Darwin's experiments with Andean condors 

 indicate the reverse to be true of that species, yet it is not 

 impossible that the odors emanating from the asphalt pits were 

 attractive to vultures. 



Owing to the above causes the entombment of the vultures 

 became a matter less fortuitous, perhaps, than has been the case in 

 many other fossil deposits where the indefinite multiplication of 



1 Finley, W. L., Condor, 12, Jan. 1910, p. 5. 



2 Prichard, H. H., "Through the Heart of Patagonia,'" Appleton & Co., 

 N. Y., 1902, p. 191. 



