appeared in pretty good health.* The Chileno countrymen
assert that the condor will live and retain its powers,
between five and six weeks without eating. I cannot
answer for the truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment,
which very likely has been tried.
When an animal is kiUed in the country, it is well known
that the condors, like other carrion vultures, soon gain
intelligence of it, and congregate in an inexplicable manner.
In most cases it must not be overlooked, that the
birds have discovered their prey, and have picked the
skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least tainted.
Remembering the opinions of M. Audubon, on the little
smelling powers of such birds,! 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
waU. Having folded up a piece of meat in white paper, I
walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand
at the distance of about three yards, but no notice whatever
was taken. I then threw it on the gTound, within one
yard of an old cock 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
* I n o tic e d t h a t s e v e ra l h o u r s b e fo r e a n y o f th e c o n d o rs d ie d , a ll th e
lic e , w ith w h ic h th e y a r e in fe s te d , c raw le d to th e o u ts id e f e a th e rs . I was
to ld t h a t th is was a lw ay s th e case.
! I n th e case o f th e Vultur aura, M r. O w e n , in som e n o te s r e a d b e fo re
th e Z o o lo g ic a l S o c ie ty , h a s d em o n s tra te d from th e d e v e lo p e d fo rm o f th e
o lfa c to ry n e rv e s , t h a t th is b ird m u s t p ossess a n a c u te s e n se o f sm e ll. I t
was m e n tio n e d o n th e s am e e v e n in g , t h a t o n tw o o c casions, p e rso n s in
th e W e s t In d ie s h a v in g d ied , a n d th e i r b o d ie s n o t b e in g b u r ie d t ill th e y
sm e lt offen siv ely , th e s e b ird s c o n g re g a te d in n um b e r s o n th e ro o f o f th e
h o u s e . T h is in s ta n c e a p p e a r s q u i te c o n c lu s iv e , a s i t w a s e v id e n t tlicy
h a d g a in e d th e in te llig e n c e b y th e p ow e rs o f sm e ll a lo n e , a n d n o t o f
s ig h t. I t w o u ld a p p e a r from th e v a rio u s fa c ts re c o rd e d , t h a t c a rrio n -
f e e d in g h aw k s p ossess b o th th e s en se o f s ig h t a n d sm e ll in a n em in e n t
d e g re e .
struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
it would not have been possible to have deceived a
dog.
I may remark, that oftentimes when lying down to rest
on the open plains, and on looking upwards, I have
seen carrion hawks, sailing through the air at a^ great
height. Where the country is level I do not believe a
space of the heavens, of more than 15° above the horizon,
is commonly viewed with any attention by a person
either walking or on horseback. If such is 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 above
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 1 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 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 eyes.
They moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending
and ascending without once flapping. As they glided
close over my head, I intently watched, from an oblique
position, the outlines of the separate and terminal feathers
of the wing, if there had been the least vibratory movement,
these would have been blended together, but they were seen
distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were
moved frequently, and apparently with force, and it appeared
as if the extended wings formed the fulcrum on which the
movements of the neck, body, and tail, acted. If the bird
wished to descend, the wings were for a moment collapsed;
and then when again expanded with an altered inclination.