CONDOR, the popular name of the great vulture of the Andes, formed by a mispronun ciation of the Indian name kunter, which, ac cording to Humboldt, is derived from another word in the language of the Incas, signifying 'to smell well.* This species (Vultur gryphus, Linn. or Sarcoramphus gryphus) belongs to the family (Cathartider) of diurnal rapacious birds, and which is distinguished by the fol lowing characters: The bill is elongated and straight at base; the upper mandible is covered to the middle by the cere; the nostrils are medial, approximate, oval, pervious and naked; the tongue is canaliculate, with serrated edges; the head is elongated, depressed and rugous; the tarsus rather slender; the lateral toes equal; the middle toe is much the longest, the inner free and the hind one shortest; the first pri mary is rather short, the third and fourth are longest.
The natural history of the condor was in a fair way to rival the ancient fables of griffins, basilisks and dragons or even of exceeding the roc of Sinbad the Sailor, in extravagant exaggeration, until Humboldt placed it upon the basis of truth. His careful measurements es tablished the fact that the wonderfully gigantic condor is not generally larger than the lam mergeyer, or bearded vulture, of the Alps, which it closely resembles in various points of character. These birds prefer to dwell above all animal life, and at the extreme limit of even Alpine vegetation, inhaling an air too highly rarefied to be endured, unless by creatures ex pressly adapted thereto. From such immense elevations they soar upward until their great bulk diminishes to a scarcely perceptible spec]) or is lost to sight. The condor is a carrion bird, and is quiddy lured to the plains by the sight or scent of a carcass. To such a feast considerable numbers repair, and commence their banquet by first plucking out the eyes, and then tearing away the tongue of the animal; next to these the bowels are eagerly sought for, and devoured with that gluttony which dis tinguishes the whole vulture tribe. Tschudi mentions one in captivity which ate 18 pounds of meat in a single day and had its usual appetite the day following. The appetite of these birds seems to be limited only by the quantity food that can be gorged into their stomachs ; and when thus overloaded they ap pear sluggish, oppressed and unable to raise themselves into the air. The Indians profit by this condition to revenge themselves for the robberies which they commit upon their flocks, and, watching while they eat until flight has become exceedingly difficult, attack and secure them by nooses, or knock them down with poles before they can get out of the way. If the condor, thus loaded, succeeds in rising a short distance from the ground, he makes a violent effort, kicking his feet toward his throat, and relieves himself by vomiting, when he soon ascends out of reach. Many, however, are sur
prised, and are captured or killed before they are able to ascend. But the condor does not exclusively feed upon dead or putrefying flesh; he attacks and destroys deer, vicunas and other medium-sized or small quadrupeds; and when pinched by hunger a pair of these birds will at tack a bullock, and by repeated wounds with their beaks and claws harass him until, from fatigue, he thrusts out his tongue, which they immediately seize and tear from his head; they also pluck out the eyes of the poor beast, which, if not speedily rescued, soon falls a prey to their voracity. It is said to be very common to see the cattle of the Indians on the Andes suffering from the severe wounds in flicted by these rapacious birds. It does not appear that they have ever attacked man. When Humboldt, accompanied by Bonpland, was col lecting plants near the limits of perpetual snow, they were daily in company with several con dors, which would suffer themselves to be quite closely approached without exhibiting signs of alarm and never showed any disposition to act offensively. The nesting-time of the condor varies with the latitude and the place selected for the nest is usually some inaccessible ledge of rock. It lays two white eggs from three and a half to four inches long, which are hatched in about seven weeks. The develop ment of the young birds is very slow, since they are not able to fly until they area year old, and they have to remain with the parent birds for a year or two longer. They are oc casionally seen even on the shores of the south ern ocean, in the cold and temperate regions of Chile, where the Andes so closely approach the shores of the Pacific. Their sojourn, how ever, in such situations is but for a short time, as they seem to require a much cooler and more highly rarified air and prefer lofty solitudes from 10,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. When they descend to the plains they alight on the ground rather than upon trees or other projections, as the straightness of their toes renders the first-mentioned situation most eligible. Humboldt saw the condor only in New Granada, Ecuador and Peru, but was in formed that it follows the chain of the Andes from the equator to the seventh degree of north latitude into the province of Antioquia. There is now no doubt that it ranges from 9 or 10 degrees north of the equator to the Straits of Magellan. The king vulture (S. papa) is another bird of the same genus.