PATAGONIA.

of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these birds; and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the valley are formed by steep basaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts it seems that the condors. require perpendicular cliffs. In Chile they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the lower country, near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost together in one tree; but in the early

part of the summer they retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordillera, there to breed in peace. I was told by the country peo ple in Chile that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of November and December lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. It is said

THE CONDOR.

that the young condors cannot fly for an entire year; and, long after they are able, they continue to roost by night and hunt by day with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz I found a spot where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these great birds start heavily from their resting place and wheel

away in majestic circles.

CHILE.

Having gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to these favorite ledges to digest their food. In this part of the country they live altogether on the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in Patagonia, that they do not, on ordinary occasions, 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 togeth er, 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 the birds pass over, to run out, and, looking upward, 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, having 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

CHILE.

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. In a garden, at the same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive.

When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known. that the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon learn of it, and congregate in a manner not yet explained. In most cases, too, the birds have discovered their prey and picked the skeleton clean before the flesh is in the least degree tainted. Remembering the experiments of Mr. Audubon on the little smelling powers of carrion-hawks, I tried, in the above-mentioned garden, the following experiment: the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of a wall, and having folded up a piece of meat in white pa per, I walked backward and forward, carrying it in my hand at the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice whatever was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within one yard of an old male bird; he looked at it for a moment with attention, but then regarded it no more. With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until at last he touched it with his beak; the paper was then instantly torn off with fury, and at the same moment every bird in the long row began struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog.

Often, when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upward I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height. Where the country is level, I do

PERU.

not believe a space of the heavens of more than fifteen de grees above the horizon is commonly viewed with any attention by a person, either walking or on horseback. If such be the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three and four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of vision its distance in a straight line from the beholder's eye would be rather more than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be overlooked? When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by the sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descent proclaim throughout the district to the whole family of carrion-feeders that their prey is at hand?

When the condors are wheeling in a flock 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 eyes: they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended together; but they were seen distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved frequently, and apparently with great force; and the outstretched wings seemed to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body, and tail acted. If the bird wished to descend,

URUGUAY.

the wings were for a moment collapsed; and when again expanded with an altered inclination, the momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upward with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. It is truly wonderful and beautiful to see so great a bird, hour after hour, without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and river.

THE OSTRICH.

ON the fine plains of turf in Banda Oriental we saw many ostriches (Struthio rhea). Some of the flocks contained as many as twenty or thirty birds. These, when standing on any little height and seen against the clear sky, presented a very noble appearance. I never met with such tame ostriches in any other part of the country: it was easy to gallop up within a short distance of them; but then, expanding their wings, they made all sail before the wind, and soon left the horse astern.

The ostrich is the largest of the birds which are com mon on the wild plains of Northern Patagonia. It lives on vegetable matter, such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks, which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of feeding on small fish. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and solitary, and although so fleet in its pace, it is caught without much difficulty by the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas (two round stones, covered with leather, and united