IX 
THE CONDOR 
193 
feet. This bird is known to have a wide geographical range, 
being found on the west coast of South America, from the 
Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far as eight degrees 
N. of the equator. The steep cliff near the mouth of the Rio 
Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast; and they 
have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great 
central line of their habitation in the Andes. Farther south, 
among the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the 
condor is not uncommon ; yet only a few stragglers occasionally 
visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa 
Cruz is frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up 
the river, where the sides of the valley are formed by steep 
basaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts, it 
seems that the condors require perpendicular cliffs. In Chile, 
they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the lower 
country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost: 
together in one tree ; but in the early part of summer they 
retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordillera, 
there to breed in peace. 
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. It is said that the young condors, 
cannot fly for an entire year ; and long after they are able, they 
continue to roost by night, and hunt by day with their parents. 
The old birds generally live in pairs ; but among the inland 
basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz I found a spot where scores- 
must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the 
precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and 
thirty of these great birds start heavily from their resting-place, 
and wheel away in majestic circles. From the quantity off 
dung on the rocks, they must long have frequented this cliff for 
roosting and breeding. Having gorged themselves with carrion 
on the plains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to 
digest their food. From these facts, the condor, like the 
gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as a gregarious 
bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on the 
guanacos which 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- 
