With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people 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 o f hare rock. Certainly, on
the Patagonian coast, I could not see any sort of nest among the cliffs, where
the young ones were standing. I was told that tlie young Condors could
not fly for a whole year, but this probably was a mistake, since M. D ’Orbigny
says they take to the wing in about a month and a half after being hatched.
On the fifth of March (corresponding to our September), I saw a young bird at
Concepcion, which, though in size only little inferior to a full-grown one, was
completely covered by down, like that of a gosling, but of a blackish colour.
I can, however, scarcely believe that this bird could have used, for some mouths
subsequently, its wings for flight. After the period when the young Condor
can fly, apparently as well as the old birds, they yet remain (as I observed
in Patagonia) both roosting at night on the same ledge, and hunting by day
with their parents : but before the young bird has the ruff round its neck
white, it may often be seen hunting by itself. At the mouth of the Santa Cruz,
during part of April and May, a pair of old birds might he seen every day,
either perched on a certain ledge, or sailing about in company with a single
young one, which latter, though full fledged, had not its ruff white.
The Condors generally live by pairs; but among the basaltic cliffs of the
plains, high up the river Santa Cruz, I found a spot where scores must usually
haunt. They were not shy; and on coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice,
it was a fine sight to see between twenty and thirty of these great* birds start
heavily from their resting place, and wheel away in majestic circles. From the
large quantity of dung on the rocks, they must have long frequented this cliff;
and probably they both roost and breed there. Having gorged themselves with
carrion on the plains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to digest their
food in quietness. From these facts, the Condor must, to a certain degree be
considered, like the Gallinazo {Cathartes atraitis), a gregarious bird. In this part
of the country they live almost entirely on the guanacoes, which either 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 spires and circles. On some occasions I am sure that they
do this for their sport; hut on others, the Chileno countryman tells you, that they
are watching a dying animal, or the puma devouring its prey. If the condors
* I measured a specimen, whicli I killed there: it was from tip to tip of wing, ciglit and a half feet; and
from end of beak to end of tail four feet.
glide down, and then suddenly all rise together, 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. Hence the shepherds train their dogs, the moment the enemy passes
over, to run out, and looking upwards, to bark violently. The Chilenos destroy
and catch numbers ; two methods are used : one is to place a carcass within an
enclosure of sticks on a level piece of gi ound, and when the condors have gorged
themselves 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, they roost together, and then at night to climb
up and 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. One which I saw
brought in for sale, had been lashed with a rope, and was much injured; hut
the moment the line was cut by which its bill was secured, it began, although
surrounded by people, ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
same place, between twenty and thirty of these birds were kept alive ; they
were fed only once a week, yet they appeared to be 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
fact, but it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has been tried.
When an animal is killed in this country, it is well known that the condors,
like other carrion vultures, gain the intelligence and congregate in a manner
which often appears inexplicable. 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 degree tainted. Remembering the opinion of
M. Audubon on the deficient smelling powers of such birds,f 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. Having folded a piece of meat in
white paper, I walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand at the
* I noticed th at several hours before any of the Condors died, all the lice with which they are infested,
crawled to the outside feathers. I was told, that this always happened.
t In the case of the Cathartes Aura., Mr. Owen, in some notes read before the Zoological Society, (See
Magazine of Nat. Hist. New Ser. vol. i. p. 638.) has demonstrated from the developed form of the olfactory
nerves, that this bird must possess an acute sense of smell. I t was mentioned on the same evening, in a communication
from Mr. Sells, that on two occasions, persons in the West Indies having died, and their bodies not
being buried till they smelt offensively, these birds congregated in numbers on the roof of the house. This
instance appears quite conclusive, as it was certain, from the construction of the buildings, th at they must have
gained the intelligence by the sense of smell alone, and not by that of sight. I t would appear from the various
facts recorded, th at carrion-feeding hawks possess both senses, in a very higli degree.