270 
DIURNAL BIRDS OF PRE Y. 
attack young goats and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they 
pass over, to run out, and looking upwards to hark violently.” From the feeble 
grasping power of their feet, and especially the small size of the first toe, it is 
perfectly evident that condors cannot carry off animals of any size, and all the 
legends of their flying away with children may be discredited. 
Frequently roosting in trees on the lower grounds during a considerable 
portion of the year, in the breeding-season condors retire to the most inaccessible 
parts of the mountains or sea-cliffs. Here during the summer months of November 
and December the female deposits two large white eggs on some rocky ledge, 
without any attempt at making a nest. The young are clothed with grey down, 
and remain a long time in the breeding-place, where they have been observed as 
late as May. Owing to their destructive propensities, condors are incessantly 
persecuted by the natives, and have thus been greatly reduced in numbers in 
many districts. Mr. Wliymper states, however, that as many as a dozen may still 
be seen at a time in the neighbourhood of Chimborazo. The birds may be either 
lassoed when gorged, or noosed while roosting in trees; while the Chilenos also 
capture them by surrounding a carcase with a fence of sticks, in which an opening 
is left, and then galloping up on horseback when the birds are gorged, and thus 
enclosing them. As a condor requires a certain space in which to run before being 
able to rise from level ground, the fence effectually prevents their escape. To shoot 
a condor on the wing requires some stratagem, as at a distance of thirty or forty 
yards a charge of buckshot produces no effect. Mr. J. R. H. MacFarlane relates 
that he was able to draw the birds within distance by tying up his dog and con¬ 
cealing himself behind a rock close by. “ Soon,” he writes, “ I perceived that the 
plaintive noises made by my dog had produced an effect; gradually the condors 
passed and repassed in their majestic flight, curiosity bringing them each time 
nearer and nearer, till at last I saw the most inquisitive bird passing within five 
yards of my retreat, when to drop the lock and deliver the contents of both barrels 
was the work of a second. To see a heavy bird such as a mallard suddenly drop 
with a thud, is generally satisfactory, so my feelings may be understood when 
my raptorial friend plumped down about two hundred feet below, sliding and 
rolling down the sand of the precipice, at the foot of which I found him lying as 
dead as a stone.” 
King-Vulture. 
The brilliantly-coloured king-vulture (Oathartes papa) is dis¬ 
tinguished generically from the condor, to which it is far inferior in 
size, by the second toe being longer than the fourth, and by the whole of the front 
of the head of the male being covered with wattles, while the female has a single 
upright wattle over the nostril. During life the naked portions of the head and 
neck of the male are coloured with shades of orange, purple, and crimson; while 
the plumage of a large portion of the upper-parts is cream-colour tending to 
fawn; the greater wing-coverts and quills, together with the lower part of the 
beak, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail, are black; and nearly the whole under 
surface white with a tinge of cream. Round the neck the feathers are deep grey; 
the beak is yellowish horn-colour, with a brown base; the feet are greyish black ; 
and the iris is white. The female is more soberly coloured, having the whole of 
the upper surface dark. 
