CONDOR. 
17 
skin rugose : inside of the bill yellowish white, margined with 
black, palate furnished with a fleshy skin, having the appearance 
of a row of teeth in the middle, then of a hard ridge looking like 
* • - „ 1 ■ % 1 
a file, and two marginal rows: tongue broadly concave, and 
serrated on the turned up edges with sharp pointed cutting serra- 
tures : an elevation of the skin indicating the frontal caruncle ; 
the place where the bristles begin to appear is also indicated by 
an elevation. Eye full and rounded : iris blackish: membrane of 
the throat very dilatable: head and neck covered by a thick silky 
down of a brownish black colour; on the front more dark and 
bristly; general colour dark brown, each feather having a banded 
appearance, tipped with more or less of umber; quill and tail- 
feathers black, with a gloss of blue. The number of tail-feathers 
is twelve, the closed wings not reaching beyond, though very 
nearly to the tip. Feet black: acrotarsus beautifully colligate, 
acrodactylus scutellated: the whole leg measures one foot in 
length, of which the tarsus is five and a quarter inches, and the 
middle toe and nail six, the nail being one and a half: lateral toes 
connected with the middle as far as the first joint by a membrane; 
the inner two and a half inches long without the nail, which is 
one and a half; the outer with the nail a quarter of an inch 
shorter; hind toe articulated inside, bearing on the ground only 
with the point of the nail, an inch and a half long, the nail one 
inch more, and much incurved: sole of the foot granulated: fat 
part of the heel large and rough. The feet have been generally 
described as white or whitish, owing to their being commonly 
stained with the excrements, which the bird throws much forward, 
but they are in fact of a fine blue horn colour when washed clean, 
and these birds seemed to be fond of washing themselves. 
The Condor is diffused over the continent of South America 
from the straits of Magellan, extending its range also to Mexico 
and California, and the western territory of the United States 
VOL. iv.— E 
