Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/27

14 bird: there seems no doubt that individuals have actually been measured, the expanse of whose wings reached to eleven feet, and whose length from beak to tail was between three and four feet. The general colour of the Condor is a glossy black, but the greater part of the wing in the male is white, as is a ruff of soft loose feathers that encircles the base of the neck. The naked skin of the head and neck is of a purplish-red hue; and the greater portion of the beak is white.

In that lofty mountain range which runs through the whole length of South America, whose inaccessible summits are covered with perpetual snow, even beneath a vertical sun, the Condor delights to dwell, fixing his habitation in solitary grandeur at the height of 10,000 or 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. Here they are to be seen in pairs, or groups of three or four, but never associate in large numbers, like the other Vultures. It does not confine itself to dead animals to satisfy its appetite. Mr. Darwin observes, that it will frequently attack living goats and lambs; and two of them are said to unite their efforts even upon creatures so powerful as the llama, or even the puma, which they succeed in destroying. Its strength is very great, as is also its tenacity of life.

The graceful motions of these Vultures in the air, are thus graphically described by Mr. Darwin:—"When the Condors in a flock are wheeling round and round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my