CONCERNING VULTURES 195 
of towns and villages, is curious in the fact 
that it is usually lined with rags and other 
soft materials. 
Colonel Irby records having found one that 
contained a pound of tow, and the sleeve of a 
discarded coat; while another writer states 
that old slippers, wool, camel’s hair and rags 
were used to form the bed of one of these 
domiciles. 
Mr. Hume also tells us that in certain parts 
it is the custom of the natives to tear off a 
strip of their clothing and hang it up on the 
branches of particular trees where the vultures 
nest, this, in all probability, being done from 
semi-religious motives. 
Of the New World or American vultures, 
by far the most imposing is the condor, its 
outstretched wings measuring nine feet or 
more from tip to tip. The adult male is an 
exceptionally attractive-looking bird (for a 
vulture), its neck being encircled with a full 
and downy ruff of white feathers, and the top 
of the head being surmounted with a large, 
upstanding and fleshy wattle, a feature that 
is absent in the hen birds. 
One of the most interesting and graphic 
accounts of the condor is given by Darwin. 
He tells us that “ condors may sometimes be 
seen at a great height, soaring over a certain 
