194 
5 . CRUZ , PATAGONIA 
CHAP. 
extend their daily excursions to any great distance from their 
regular sleeping-places. 
The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, 
soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles. On 
some occasions I am sure that they do this only for pleasure, 
but on others, the Chileno countryman tells you that they are 
watching a dying animal, or the puma devouring its prey. If 
the condors glide down, and then suddenly all rise together, the 
Chileno knows that it is the puma which, watching the carcass, 
has sprung out to drive away the robbers. Besides feeding on 
carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats and lambs ; 
and the shepherd-dogs are trained, whenever they pass over, to 
run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos 
destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used ; one is to 
place a carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure 
of sticks with an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to 
gallop up on horseback to the entrance, and thus enclose them : 
for when this bird has not space to run, it cannot give its body 
sufficient momentum to rise from the ground. The second 
method is to mark the trees in which, frequently to the number 
of five or six together, they roost, and then at night to climb 
up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as I have 
myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At Valparaiso 
I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the common 
price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in, 
had been tied with rope, and was much injured ; yet, the 
moment the line was cut by which its bill was secured, although 
surrounded by people, it began ravenously to tear a piece of 
carrion. In a garden at the same place, between twenty and 
thirty were kept alive. They were fed only once a week, but 
they appeared in pretty good health . 1 The Chileno country¬ 
men assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigour, 
between five and six weeks without eating : I cannot answer 
for the truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment, which very 
likely has been tried. 
When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known 
that the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence 
1 I noticed that several hours before any one of the condors died, all the lice, 
with which it was infested, crawled to the outside feathers. I was assured that 
this always happened. 
