OCR Text |
Show 222 PATAGONIA. April, 1834;. 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 killed 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, t I tried in the abovementioned garden the following experiment: The condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of a wall. 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 ground, 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 noticed that 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 was always the case. t In the case of the Vultur aura, Mr. Owen, in some notes read before the Zoological Society, has demonstrated from the developed form of the olfactory nerves, that this bird must possess an acute sense of smell. It was mentioned on the same evening, 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 evident they had gained the intelligence by the powers of smell alone, and not of' ~ight. It would appear from the various facts recorded, that carrionfeeding hawks possess both the sense of sight and smell in an eminent degree. April, 1834. CONDOR. 223 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 walkiBg 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 ? 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, |