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Volume XII 
J anuary-F ebruary 1910 
Number 1 
LIFE HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR 
PART IV —THE YOUNG CONDOR IN CAPTIVITY 
By WILLIAM L. FINLEY 
WITH SIX PHOTOGRAPHS BY HERMAN T. BOH I, MAN 
I N the November issue of The Condor for 1906, I gave an account of finding 
the nest and egg of the California Condor ( Gymnogyfis calif orni anus') . In the 
issue for January, 1908, I gave some historical data and facts about the range of 
the bird. In the March, 1908, issue, I related the observations we have collected 
on the home life of the pair of condors we have studied. In the present paper I 
shall tell something of the young condor in captivity. 
Altlio the California Condor in the wild state likely lives quite a long time, the 
bird in captivity as a rule does not survive many years, nor does it have the bril- 
liancy of color found in the wild specimens. At present I know of but four of 
these birds in confinement. One, named General, of whom I shall w r rite, is at the 
New York Zoological Park. During the winter of 1906 I saw four at the National 
Zoological Park in Washington, but last winter there were but three, as 
one had died. A few years ago a condor was kept at the Soldiers’ Home, at Saw- 
telle, California, and another at the Zoological Park in Philadelphia, but both of 
these are now dead. I saw one in 1903 at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, which 
was brightly colored. I did not know its age at the time, but it died a year or so 
after that. The New York Zoological Society secured one of these birds March 14, 
1905, but it died October 17 of the following year as the result of swallowing a 
rubber band that had been given it by some visitor. 
We had found the condor’s nest on March 10, containing one egg. This egg 
hatcht on March 22. We studied and photographed the young condor in his nest 
at different intervals up to the 6th of July. Then, when about two-thirds grown, 
he made the journey from his home in the mountains to Portland, Oregon. We 
gave him good care on the way and he stood the trip very well. On July 10 he ar- 
rived in Portland and, for the time being, was given quarters in the back yard. He 
weighed fifteen pounds. He was fed twice a day with about a pound of raw meat 
and given plenty of water. Once a day he was given the freedom of the back yard 
