One of the most important members of the group is the Condor, one of the largest of flying birds, and when on the wing the most majestic. "When the condors," says Darwin, "are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising off 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." One which he shot measured, from tip to tip of the fully expanded wings, 8½ feet.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park.
KING-VULTURE.
The fleshy crest on the beak is developed in the females as well as in the males.
The condor, like its smaller relatives, hunts by sight, and not, as was at one time believed, by smell, feeding on the dead bodies of guanacos which have died a natural death or been killed by pumas, and upon other dead animals. In the neighbourhood where sheep and goats are kept, they are much dreaded, as they will attack the young kids and lambs. The flock-owners on this account wage constant war against them, capturing them by enclosing a carcase within a narrow space, and when the condors are gorged galloping up on horseback and killing them, for when this bird has not space to run it cannot rise from the ground. Sometimes the trees on which they roost are marked, and when night falls a man climbs the tree and captures them with a noose, for they are very heavy sleepers.
The condor ranges from the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, and Chili southwards to the Rio Negro on the east coast of Patagonia. It lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock projecting from precipitous cliffs, and the young are said to be unable to fly till after they are a year old. As will be seen in the photographs, the head of the male is crowned by a bare, fleshy caruncle, which, like the surrounding bare skin, is of a dull reddish colour: lower down the neck is a frill of pure white down, which forms a conspicuous contrast with the glossy black plumage of the rest of the body and wings.
The King-vulture is a much smaller bird, but the bare parts of the head are much more brilliantly, even gaudily coloured, the combinations being orange, purple, and crimson. The plumage is creamy white and black. It is a comparatively rare bird, and but little is known concerning its breeding habits. The female is much more soberly clad than her mate. The king-vulture has a more northerly range than the condor, extending from Brazil to Mexico, Texas, and Florida.
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S.] [Regent's Park.