COLOR OF THE CONDOR. 
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celebrated as a Goliath among birds, the expanse of its wings being set down at eighteen or 
twenty feet, and its strength exaggerated in the same proportion. In reality, the expanse of 
a large Condor’s wing will very seldom reach eleven feet, and the average extent is from eight 
to nine feet. In one specimen, where the measurement of the extended wings was only eight 
feet onS inch, the longest quill feather of the wings was two feet two inches in length ; the 
diameter of the body was nine inches, and the total length from the point of the beak to the 
extremity of the tail, was three feet two inches. 
The general color of the Condor is a grayish-black, variable in depth and glossiness in 
different individuals. The upper wing coverts are marked with white, which take a grayer 
CONDOR. Sarcorhamphus gryphus. 
tint in the female, and the exterior edges of the secondaries are also white. The adult male 
bird may easily be distinguished by the amount of white upon the feathers, so that the wings 
are marked with a large white patch. Around the neck is set a beautifully white downy collar 
of soft feathers, which does not entirely inclose the neck, but leaves a small naked band in 
front. This featherless band is, however, so small, that it is not perceptible except by a 
close examination. 
The crest of the male Condor is of considerable size, occupying the top of the head and 
extending over a fourth of the basal portion of the beak. The nostrils are intersected at the 
base of the beak, in a space which is created for them by means of the sudden sloping of the 
crest. Although the crest of the Condor presents an apparent analogy with the wattles of 
a turkey, it cannot be inflated at pleasure, as is the case with that bird, but is hard of sub- 
stance and contains but few blood-vessels. As the Condor, when at rest, is in the habit of 
sinking its head upon its shoulders, and concealing the neck within the collar of white down 
