Andean condor

“ In bird and insect life Colombia is second only to Brazil. The condor, which inhabits the higher Cordilleras, is peculiar to the whole Andean region, and is the largest of the Raptores. Among other members of this order are the eagle, osprey, vulture, buzzard, kite and hawk, with about a dozen species in all. ”

“ Humboldt, the famous traveler, said that Indians told him that they had been found measuring eighteen feet from wing tip to wing tip.”
“Well, I should say they are aeroplanes,” exclaimed Nat. “Do they ever attack men?”
“Cases of it are not unknown,” said the professor, “and almost every Andean village has a story about a condor flying off with a baby. As a matter of fact, though, I guess they confine their attentions mostly to young sheep or calves light enough for them to carry.” ”

“ The condor enjoys the privilege of an exceptional longevity. The Indians of the Andean plains assert that he lives nearly a hundred years. He builds no regular nest; the female is satisfied with a hollow in the rocky cliff of sufficient size to shelter her while hatching her eggs. Both parents busy themselves very attentively in bringing up their young, disgorging in their beaks the food which they have themselves taken. The young birds grow slowly; it is not until they are six weeks old that they begin to flutter round their parents. ”

“ Wherever practicable, we shot the poor beasts, and left their carcases for the condors, eagles, and vultures that are continually soaring over the mule tracks of the Andes on the look-out for their horrid banquet. Often, when riding over the Andes, a huge dark shadow comes suddenly over the path, and the traveller, looking upwards, sees the magnificent condor floating in the bright sunlight and rising to his resting-place amongst the snow-clad peaks. ”

“ What did Glenarvan hope? Was his reason wandering? He had said, "Who knows?" Paganel was not mistaken. The condor became more distinct every moment.
This magnificent bird, long revered by the Incas, is the king of the southern Andes. In these regions he attains an extraordinary development. His strength is prodigious; and he often precipitates oxen to the bottom of the abysses. He attacks sheep, goats, and calves wandering on the plain, and carries them in his talons to a great height. ”

“ The Incas worshipped the llama, alpaca, and these wild relatives of theirs; they carved their grotesque forms in stone and fashioned their likeness in gold and silver for household gods.
Far above the limit of human life, even beyond the haunts of vicuñas, there is still one living creature. His shadow sweeps over the wilderness as he passes between it and the sun—a shadow the only appearance of life. It is the condor, who lays her white eggs on the bare rock of the loftiest mountain peaks and knows where the heart of each animal lies. ”

“ He watches the sun rise over a continent-jungle, glimmering with heat and dampness, and long after the sunset glow has faded from the highest snowy peak, he sees its fiery ball drop beyond the farthest edge of the Pacific.
The fabulous condor, known in Europe when Peru was a myth, a hostage from a fairyland of gold and silver; a griffin which revels in solitude and in evidences of things gone by.
Loneliness is the condor’s only friend. ”

“ But instead of the feathered tribes whose gay plumage sparkled in the deep glooms of the tropical forests, the adventurers now beheld only the great bird of the Andes, the loathsome condor, who, sailing high above the clouds, followed with doleful cries in the track of the army, as if guided by instinct in the path of blood and carnage. ”

“ Its flight is graceful,and at times very lofty. The breeding-places of the condors are in hollows of the cliffs, hundreds of feet from their bases; the eggs are laid upon the bare rock.
I have seen these birds in pairs; but in winter months they generally congregate in greater numbers.
While in the air, the condor soars in graceful circles, moving its wings but little: they feed upon carrion, but will kill weak and wounded animals, somewhat resembling the caracara in this respect.
The range of the condor extends along the Andes, [Pg 294] from the Straits of Magellan to 8° north latitude. ”

“ Its plumage, particularly on the wings, is very strong and thick. The natives, therefore, seldom attempt to shoot the condor: they usually catch him by traps or by the laso, or kill him by stones flung from slings, or by the Bolas. A curious method of capturing the condor alive is practised in the province of Abancay. A fresh cow-hide, with some fragments of flesh adhering to it, is spread out on one of the level heights, and an Indian provided with ropes creeps beneath it, whilst some others station themselves in ambush near the spot, ready to assist him. ”

“ One species of ibis, the Theristicus caudatus, is to be found, it is said, only on the slopes of Antisana. Species of the pheasant and partridge are not uncommon, and the “guácharo” (Steatornis caripensis) , once believed to inhabit Venezuela only, is found in Ecuador also. The Raptores are well represented by a large number of genera and species, which include the condor, eagle, vulture, falcon, hawk and owl. The condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus) is commonly found between the elevations of 6000 and 16,000 ft., rarely, if ever, descending to the lowland plains or rising above the lower peaks. ”

“ But the richest store of wool was obtained, not from these domesticated animals, but from the two other species, the huanacos and the vicunas, which roamed in native freedom over the frozen ranges of the Cordilleras; where not unfrequently they might be seen scaling the snow-covered peaks which no living thing inhabits save the condor, the huge bird of the Andes, whose broad pinions bear him up in the atmosphere to the height of more than twenty thousand feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ Holton. “Yes, there are countless numbers of interesting wild creatures in those mountains. Most impressive of all is perhaps the condor, the largest bird that flies. We naturalists wish particularly to investigate reports of a species of condor that is pure white in color. Whether we’ll find it we have yet to see. But there are other birds and animals that we feel sure of getting, such as the puma, armadillo, lizard, guanaco, fox, and snipe. We aren’t allowed a great deal of time in the Andes, but we feel certain that a large number of wild creatures will fall at the report of our rifles.” ”

“ It is with the condor, says this celebrated voyager, "as with the Patagonian, and many other objects of natural history; the more they are examined, the more they diminish in size." They inhabit the highest mountains of the Andes, and only descend to the plains when pressed by hunger. Frequently, in troops, they attack cattle, deer, guanacoes, and even the puma, and always succeed in killing them; but their principal food is carrion, of which, in a country so abundantly stocked with quadrupeds, there is probably no want. ”

“ The condor has the loftiest flight of all the winged race. He has been seen towering in the “blue serene,” on a level with the snow-crowned summit of Illimani, 23,000 feet above the sea, in a region where man cannot endure the excessive rarefaction of the air. When, in the fulness of time, civilization shall have conquered to itself the South American continent, the condor, flying for refuge to these brain-wildering heights among the icy peaks of the Cordillera, shall be, perhaps, in that quarter of the globe, the latest denizen of the Desert—the last representative of The Savage World. ”

“ It is because they have a safe place, not only to breed but to retire to, whenever they feel inclined. Numerous peaks of the Andes, where these birds dwell, shoot up far above the line of perpetual snow. Away up on these summits the condor breeds, among naked rocks where there is no vegetation. No one ever thinks of ascending them; and, indeed, many of these summits are inaccessible to the human foot. Not even animals of any species are found there, nor birds—except the condor himself. ”

“ A large full-grown condor, with its wings spread, measures from twelve to fourteen feet from tip to tip of the wings; and nine feet is the measure of very ordinary specimens.
It lives on the highest peaks of the Andes mountains in South America; and builds its nests on crags that are inaccessible to man. It cares nothing for snow and ice, nor for the great tempests of wind that sweep over these lofty summits. Among these cold, desolate rocks it makes its nest, and rears a hardy brood of young ones. ”

“ On this journey over the cumbre one is likely to descry specimens of the great condor, oftener to be seen in Chile than in the countries nearer the equator. In the many days I have spent above 15,000 feet in Peru and Bolivia, not one appeared within the range of my vision. In the mountainous 206regions of Chile, the birds are so numerous as to be a pest, attacking pigs, sheep, children, and rarely a grown man; hence a reward for condors dead or alive has been offered by the Government. ”

“ The scantiest vegetation can scarcely draw nutriment from the ungenial soil, and animals shun the dreary and shelterless wilds. The condor alone finds itself in its native element amidst these mountain deserts. On the inaccessible summits of the Cordillera that bird builds its nest, and hatches its young in the months of April and May. Few animals have attained so universal a celebrity as the condor. That bird was known in Europe, at a period when his native land was numbered among those fabulous regions which are regarded as the scenes of imaginary wonders. ”

“ Then the condors were good to him and with them he flew hither and thither, as fast and as high as they, never tiring, never lagging, and they took him in a new direction and to a place where out of a great bare valley rose a monstrous black bird, a bird so strong that it could bear away a llama in each claw and another in its beak. So big it was that beside it a condor seemed tiny. It was an ugly bird and the eye of it was heavy-lidded and baleful, its claws sharp. ”

“ Presently a condor, attracted by the smell of flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide, and then the Indian, who is concealed under it, seizes the bird by the legs, and binds them fast in the skin, as if in a bag. The captured condor flaps his wings, and makes ineffectual attempts to fly ”

“ Xaraya is a lake in the country of Paraguay, and is the principal source of the river Paraguay. This river is the largest branch of the Plata.
No. 26
The Condor frowning from a southern plain. Borne on a standard, leads a numerous train:
Book III. Line 421.
The Condor is supposed to be the largest bird of prey hitherto known. His wings, from one extreme to the other, are said to measure fifteen feet; he is able to carry a sheep in his talons, and he sometimes attacks men. He inhabits the high mountains of Peru, and is supposed by some authors to be peculiar to the American continent. ”

“ The dwellers by the shore worshipped the whale and the shark. There were fish-gods, too, in the temple of Pachacamac, no doubt because of the enormous power of reproduction possessed by fishes. The condor was a messenger of the Sun, and his image was graven on the sceptre of the Incas. [25] It is remarkable that the llama does not appear amongst these divine animals, probably because it was so completely domesticated and wholly subject to man. ”

“ In the province of Abacay, in Peru, another method is employed. A native fastens a quantity of putrid flesh to a fresh cow-skin, under which he lies hid with a supply of rope. When the condor pounces down upon the meat, and remains gorging himself, the native fastens its legs by means of the rope to the skin. As soon as this is done, he creeps from beneath it. The frightened bird in vain attempts to escape. Immediately the hunter’s companions, rushing forward, throw their bolas over the bird, and make it captive. ”

“ The Condor of the Andes has great powers of sight. He wheels in beautiful curves high in the air scrutinizing the ground most carefully and all the time apparently keeping track of all the other Condors within a range of several miles. ”

“ Certain ruminants having long woolly hair are found only in the high Andes; these are the llamas, alpacas and vicunas. The llama has been domesticated and is used for carrying small burdens. The condor, the largest living bird of flight, inhabits the lofty Andes. The insects of the highest mountains are related generically, but not specifically, to those of the temperate latitudes of North America—a fact understood by biologists to mean that there has been no migration across the intermediate region since the glacial epoch. ”

“ Railways have been constructed to cross the chain at a similar elevation. The Andes are extremely rich in the precious metals, gold, silver, copper, platinum, mercury, and tin all being wrought; lead and iron are also found. The llama and kindred species—the guanaco, vicuña, [160] and alpaca—are characteristic of the Andes. Among birds, the condor is the most remarkable. The vegetation necessarily varies much according to elevation, latitude, rainfall, &c., but generally is rich and varied. ”

“ A pair of condors will attack a cougar, a deer, or a llama: pursuing it for a long time, they will occasionally wound it with their bills and claws, until the unfortunate animal, stifled, and overcome with fatigue, extends its tongue and groans; on which occasion the condor seizes this member, being a very tender and favorite morsel, and tears out the eyes of its prey, which at length falls to the earth and expires. The greedy bird then gorges himself, and rests, in stupidity and almost gluttonous inebriation, upon the highest neighboring rocks. ”