372 
CONDUR. 
of all those which are able to fly. Its amazing size 
has given rise to some incredible accounts of its 
strength ; and when we hear that., <s singly and un- 
assisted, it seizes an elephant, hurries the ponde- 
rous animal into the air, drops it, and kills it by 
the fall,” we cannot help smiling at the uncom- 
mon credulity of Marco Paolo. Setting aside all 
exaggerated accounts, of which this is not the only 
one, we shall proceed to describe the condur as we 
find it in the first volume of Hawkesworth’s Voyages. 
This bird was shot at Port Desire, off Penguin 
island : the head resembled that of an eagle, except 
that it had a large comb upon it ; round the neck it 
had a white ruff, exactly resembling a lady’s tip- 
pet ; the feathers on the back as black as jet, and as 
bright as the finest polish could render that mineral ; 
the legs were remarkably strong and large, and the 
talons like those of an eagle, except that they were 
not so sharp ; and the wings, when they were ex- 
tended, measured from point to point no less than 
twelve feet. The thick plumage of this formidable 
creature is so difficult to penetrate, that father 
Feuillee found the contents of a musket insufficient 
to bring one of them down. This naturalist dis- 
covered one that was perched upon a great rock in 
the valley of Ylo, in Peru. u I approached it,” says 
the father, (C within musket-shot, and fired; but as 
my piece was only loaded with swan shot, the lead 
could not pierce its feathers. I perceived, however, 
from its motions, that it was wounded ; for it rose 
heavily, and could with difficulty reach another 
