4 
ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in 
Chile, that the Condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of November 
and December, lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. Certainly, on 
the Patagonian coast, I could not see any sort of nest among the cliffs, where 
the young ones were standing. I was told that the young Condors could 
not fly for a whole year, but this probably was a mistake, since M. D’Orbigny 
says they take to the wing in about a month and a half after being hatched. 
On the fifth of March (corresponding to our September), I saw a young bird at 
Concepcion, which, though in size only little inferior to a full-grown one, was 
completely covered by down, like that of a gosling, but of a blackish colour. 
I can, however, scarcely believe that this bird could have used, for some months 
subsequently, its wings for flight. After the period when the young Condor 
can fly, apparently as well as the old birds, they yet remain (as I observed 
in Patagonia) both roosting at night on the same ledge, and hunting by day 
with their parents : but before the young bird has the ruff round its neck 
white, it may often be seen hunting by itself. At the mouth of the Santa Cruz, 
during part of April and May, a pair of old birds might be seen every day, 
either perched on a certain ledge, or sailing about in company with a single 
young one, which latter, though full fledged, had not its ruff white. 
The Condors generally live by pairs ; but among the basaltic cliffs of the 
plains, high up the river Santa Cruz, I found a spot where scores must usually 
haunt. They were not shy; and on coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, 
it was a fine sight to see between twenty and thirty of these great* birds start 
heavily from their resting place, and wheel away in majestic circles. From the 
large quantity of dung on the rocks, they must have long frequented this cliff ; 
and probably they both roost and breed there. Having gorged themselves with 
carrion on the plains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to digest their 
food in quietness. From these facts, the Condor must, to a certain degree be 
considered, like the Gallinazo ( Cathartes atratus ), a gregarious bird. In this part 
of the country they live almost entirely on the guanacoes, which either have 
died a natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been killed by the 
pumas. I believe, from what I saw in Patagonia, that they do not, on ordinary 
occasions, extend their daily excursions to any great distance from their regular 
sleeping places. 
The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a certain 
spot in the most graceful spires and circles. On some occasions I am sure that they 
do this for their sport ; but on others, the Chileno countryman tells you, that they 
are watching a dying animal, or the puma devouring its prey. If the condors 
* I measured a specimen, which I killed there : it was from tip to tip of wing, eight and a half feet ; and 
from end of beak to end of tail four feet. 
