This genus comprises but two species, the Condor (Sarcoramphus gryphus, Duméril) and the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa).
The Condor, (from the word Cuntur, in the Peruvian language), [Fig. 301], commonly called the Great Vulture of the Andes, is the most remarkable species of the Vulture family, both for its size and strength, and also for the vast extent of the stretch of its wings. Its plumage is of a dark blue, approaching to black; its collar, which occupies only the back and sides of the neck, is formed of a dazzling white down. Its crest, bevelled off at the edge, is cartilaginous in its nature, and of a bluish colour, and extends down the side of the neck in two fleshy strings. Lastly, the male has two fleshy appendages under the lower mandible, level with the collar. The wings are as long as the tail, their whole development being ten or twelve feet. The length of the bird from the point of the bill to the tip of the tail is on an average about four feet.
The chief habitat of the Condor is the western slope of the chain of the Andes, in Bolivia, Peru, and Chili; it frequents all the different altitudes, from the burning sands of the sea-coast to the ice-bound solitudes of perpetual snow. Humboldt and Bonpland, when exploring the Andes, repeatedly noticed Condors close round them when at a height of 15,700 feet above the level of the sea. D'Orbigny saw them as high up as the summit of Illimani, a height of 24,600 feet; and he likewise met with them on the coasts of Peru and Patagonia, seeking their food among the various débris which the waves had thrown upon the shore, proving that they can support variations of temperature which man would be unable to bear; in fact, at a height of 19,000 feet the air becomes so rarefied, and the cold so intense, that no human being would be able to exist for any length of time subject to their influence.
Fig. 301.—Condor (Vultur gryphus, Linn.).
The Condor passes the night at great elevations, perched on the cleft of a rock. As soon as the rising sun gilds the peaks of the mountains it raises its neck, hitherto buried between its shoulders, and shaking its wide wings, launches into space. The impetus of its own weight at first carries it downwards, but soon recovering itself, it traverses the aërial space with majestic ease and grandeur. Almost imperceptible movements of the wings are sufficient to carry it in every direction; at one moment it is skimming over the surface of the ground, now it is up in the clouds, three thousand feet above. The Condor's power of vision is so great that it commands a view of the plain beneath from the greatest heights, and although it is no longer visible to the denizens of earth, their slightest movements cannot escape its piercing sight. When it catches view of prey, it partly folds its wings and descends upon it with the rapidity of lightning.
Although thus endowed with such powerful means of action, the Condor never attacks living animals unless they are helpless from youth, or enfeebled by disease. The stories of some travellers concerning the boldness of this bird are not founded on fact. It is inaccurate to state that the Condor will attack a man, as a child of ten years old, armed with a stick, has been known to put it to flight. It has been asserted that this bird will carry off lambs, young llamas, and even children, but this statement will not hold good when subjected to examination; for the Condor, like all the Vulture tribe, has short toes and non-retractile claws; it is, therefore, radically impossible for it to clutch and carry prey of any considerable weight.
It is, however, a fact beyond all question that the Condor is in the habit of prowling round flocks of sheep and cows; and, like the Caracara, will fall upon and devour newly-born animals. It accompanies the caravans which cross the plains of South America, and when an unfortunate pack animal, worn out with fatigue and privation, sinks down exhausted, totally unable to proceed on the journey, it becomes the prey of these winged banditti, which often commence their meal before life has left the body. M. de Castelnau, who has observed the Condor in the Andes, writes with regard to this subject:—
"Travellers who have sunk down upon the ground when utterly worn out with fatigue and suffering have been known to be attacked, tormented, and finally torn to pieces by these ferocious birds, which pluck strips of flesh off their victims, having first disabled them with blows of the wing. The unfortunates may resist for a few instants, but ere long a few blood-stained fragments are all that remain to announce to the passer-by the horrible death of those who preceded him on these dangerous paths."
The Condor possesses extraordinary tenacity of life. Humboldt relates that he found it impossible to strangle one, and that he was compelled to shoot it to put an end to its existence.