Condor

“ Every one has heard of the Condor or Great Vulture of the Andes, rivaling in natural history, the fabled feats of the Roc of Sinbad. Even the genius of Humboldt has failed to strip this giant bird of its time-honored renown, and his effort to reduce the Chilian Condor to the level of the Lammergyer of the Alps, is a signal failure.
Although he has divested this mountain-bird of all its fictitious attributes, and stripped a goodly portion of romantic narrative of its wildest imagery, yet the Condor still floats in the solitude of the higher heavens, the monarch of the feathered race. ”

“ They are out—and away scamper the Condor, fleet as the winds of heaven—and away, in rapid pursuit, wheels the mounted Chilian, swinging around his head the noose of the unerring lasso, which, falling upon the neck of the bird, makes him captive. The line is played out, and away sweeps the powerful bird, and away the practiced horseman after him. Springing upward, the Condor now unfolds his wings and flutters in such width of circle as the rope will permit—and now shoots perpendicularly upward—and now falls headlong, and is trailed exhausted on the ground. ”

“ Of the feathered tribe the majestic condor stands most conspicuous, whether on the ground extending its wings, which often measure fourteen feet from tip to tip, or soaring among the clouds, in appearance not larger than a swallow. ”

“ The Condor is sailing barge, with a light breeze several points abaft the beam.
Jack Striker is at the wheel; and as the sea is smooth he finds it easy steering, having little to do but keep the barque steady by taking an occasional squint at the compass-card.
The moon—which has just risen—shining in his face, shows it to be that of a man over fifty, with the felon in its every line and lineament. It is beardless, pock-pitted, with thick shapeless lips, broad hanging jowls, nostrils agape, and nose flattened like the snout of a bull-dog. ”

“ If that is so, I want to ask them where the condor comes in.
"Why, your golden eagle of Scottish wilds isn't a circumstance to the condor of the Andes. He is no more to be compared to this great forest vulture than a spring chicken is to a Christmas turkey.
"But the condor is only one of a thousand wild birds of prey, or of song, found in the Andean regions or giant Cordilleras.
"And at lower altitude we find the llamas, the guanacos, and herds of wild vicuñas.
"You may come across the puma and the jaguar also, and be sorry you've met. ”

“ The condor soars magnificently in the thin air over the Andes—it can rise like a kite or drop like a thunderbolt: the weeka of New Zealand can hardly get out of the way of a stick aimed by an active man. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For there are yet tales of the Spanish Main. That segment of continent washed by the tempestuous Caribbean, and presenting to the sea a formidable border of tropical jungle topped by the overweening Cordilleras, is still begirt by mystery and romance. In past times buccaneers and revolutionists roused the echoes of its cliffs, and the condor wheeled perpetually above where, in the green groves, they made food for him with their matchlocks and toledos. ”

“ In that lofty mountain range which runs through the whole length of South America, whose inaccessible summits are covered with perpetual snow, even beneath a vertical sun, the Condor delights to dwell, fixing his habitation in solitary grandeur at the height of 10,000 or 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. Here they are to be seen in pairs, or groups of three or four, but never associate in large numbers, like the other Vultures. It does not confine itself to dead animals to satisfy its appetite. ”

“ It was evidently some bird hovering above them.
"A condor," said Paganel.
"Yes, a condor," replied Glenarvan. "Who knows? He is coming down-- he is gradually getting lower! Let us wait."
Paganel was not mistaken, it was assuredly a condor. This magnificent bird is the king of the Southern Andes, and was formerly worshiped by the Incas. It attains an extraordinary development in those regions. ”

“ Condor of ruff and mantle of the colour of clear coffee.—He has of embregadura from eleven to thirteen feet, and he is swift and daring.
3. Condor with white mantle and ruff.—He has expanse of wing, or embregadura, from nine to eleven feet; and this is the most abundant and beautiful species. The condor inhabits the steep rocks of the Andes; and, according to the observations of Santiago, he makes every day two journeys to the coast in search of food, which shows his prodigious velocity. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Surely this power to waft and to sustain himself in the loftiest regions of the air—the ability to endure, uninjured, the exceeding cold attendant upon such remoteness from the earth, and to breathe with ease in an atmosphere of such extreme rarity—together with the keenness of sight that, from such vast heights can minutely scan the objects beneath, as well as the formidable powers of this bird, when the herds are scattered before him; were sufficiently admirable to entitle the Condor to our attention, and to give us promise of goodly sport in the approaching Condor or Lasso Hunt. ”

“ 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. ”

“ She had been a real shipmate and a true woman too. It was like an article of faith with him that there never had been, and never could be, a brighter, cheerier home anywhere afloat or ashore than his home under the poop-deck of the Condor, with the big main cabin all white and gold, garlanded as if for a perpetual festival with an unfading wreath. She had decorated the center of every panel with a cluster of home flowers. It took her a twelvemonth to go round the cuddy with this labor of love. ”

“ The Condor thoughtfully stretched his wings as he considered how to explain this to the children.
"Such there are," he said. "They are shaped from within outward by their own wills. They have the power to take the human form and leave it. But it was not until she had been with her mother to To-yalanne, the sacred Thunder Mountain, as is the custom when maidens reach the marriageable age, that her power came to her. She was weary with gathering the sacred flower pollen; she lay under a maguey in the warm sun and felt the light airs play over her. ”

“ They build a pen around the carcass of the first dead steer they can find on some cattle estancia, and then await the arrival of the condors to feast on the flesh.
“The condor, when he is gorged, cannot rise without taking a run——”
“Just like an aeroplane in that, too,” commented Nat.
“That is true,” said the professor. “Well, as I was saying, the bird cannot rise without this preliminary run, and, of course, the picket fence interferes with this. That is the condor catcher’s opportunity. He throws a lasso around the bird he has selected and lets the condor fight till he is exhausted. ”

“ Condor Capturing Llama.
As in the Alps and Pyrenees the Vulture and his kin reign and build their aerie, so in the mountain heights of the South American Andes, from the equator to the 45 degrees of latitude, the mighty Condor reigns. He is the most powerful of all Birds of Prey, of whose mode of living mankind has only been able during the last few years, to obtain much accurate information. The color of his plumage is black shading toward dark blue. The centre of the wings are white, head and throat are almost bare, and the warty skin on both sides of the neck is red. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the Condor pursues an animal, he continues the chase until either the prey, leaping over a precipice, dashes to pieces, or he pounces upon and crushes it, battering in its skull with his powerful bill. His principal booty as previously mentioned, is the swift-footed though defenceless Llama. In the illustration we see how a powerful Condor has pursued one of the most useful of domestic animals until he has fallen exhausted, and now proceeds to kill and consume him. In the distance hovers a comrade with whom he will be obliged, willingly or otherwise, to share the booty. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the highlands the most prominent birds are the condor and the humming-bird. These two extremes in size are found side by side on the summit of Pichincha. The condor appears in its glory among the mountains of Quito. Its ordinary haunt is at the height of Etna. No other living creature can remove at pleasure to so great a distance from the earth; and it seems to fly and respire as easily under the low barometric pressure of thirteen inches as at the sea-shore. It can dart in an instant from the dome of Chimborazo to the sultry coast of the Pacific. ”

“ In the midst of the open ocean, or close to land, the tragedy to be enacted will be all the same. The girls seized; the captain, Don Gregorio, the cook, and himself, shot down, or poniarded; after that, the gold dragged out of the lockers; the vessel scuttled, and sunk; a boat alone left to carry the pirates ashore, with their spoils and captives!
Contemplating such a scene—even though only in imagination—it is not strange that the Condor’s first officer feels a shivering throughout his frame. He feels it in every fibre. And reflection fails to give relief ”

“ They sail and circle around in the rarefied air with scarcely a flap of the wing. In the winter time the condor may be found near the coast, but in summer they always return to the highest Andean peaks, where they rear their young. The eggs are deposited in lofty clefts or caverns, where no form of animal life exists that might destroy the young birds. A young condor during [156] the first year clings to the parent bird, for its body is too big for its wings. This royal bird figures on the national escutcheon of Chile as an emblem of strength and independence. ”

“ Across the Atlantic we’ll have passage in a big steamship, with a grand dining saloon, and state sleeping-rooms, each in itself as large as the main-cabin of the Condor. Besides, we’ll have plenty of company—passengers like ourselves. Let us hope they may turn out nice people. If so, our Atlantic voyage will be more enjoyable than this on the Pacific.”
“But we’ve been very comfortable in the Condor; and I’m sure Captain Lantanas has done all he could to make things agreeable for us.” ”

“ Some writers have affirmed that a Condor can carry off a sheep in its claws, and others that it has carried off children in the same manner; but these tales are manifestly absurd, as the{197} Condor’s feet and talons are not fitted for carrying any great weight. Both the talons and the bill are indeed of extraordinary strength, but they are intended for tearing objects to pieces; and consequently we find that the Condor feeds chiefly on dead or dying cattle, or horses, which he tears to pieces and devours where they lie. ”