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Show ii ADVERTISEMENT. that admirable success, which has attended all her works. They are all o~ the natUl'al size with the exception of four raptorial birds, a goose and a speCI~S of Rhea. As the dimensions of these latter birds are given, their propor.tt~~al reduction will readily be seen. I had originally intended to have added the mttlal f to the account of the habits and ranges, and that of Mr. Gould's letter o my name . . to the description of the genera and species ; but as It may be known that he IS responsible for the latter, and myself for the former, this appeared to me us~less; and I have, therefore, thought it better to incorporate all general remarks m my own name, stating on every occasion my authority, so that wherever the personal ronoun is used it refers to myself. Finally, I must remark, that after the !xcellent dissertation, now in the course of publication, on the habits and distribution of the birds of South America by M. Alcide D'Orbigny, in which he has combined his own extended observations with those of Azara, my endeavour to add anything to our information on this subject, may at first be thought superfluous. But as during the Beagle's voyage, I visited some portions of America south of the range of M. D'Orbigny's travels, I shall relate in order the few facts, which I have been enabled to collect together; and these, if not new, may at least tend to confirm former accounts. I have, however, thought myself obliged to omit some parts, which otherwise I should have given ; and, after having read the published portion of M. D'Orbigny's great work, I have corrected some errors, into which I bad fallen. I have not, however, altered any thing simply because it differs from what that gentleman may have written ; but only where I have been convinced that my means of observation were inferior to his. B I R D S. FAMILY-VULTURIDlE. 8ARCORAMPHUS GRYPHUS. Bonap. V ultur grypbus, Linn. -----, Httmb. Zoolog. p. 31. Sa.rcoramphus Condor, D'Orbif!n!J. Voy. Ois. Condor of the inhabitants of South America. THE Condor is known to have a wide range, being found on the west coast of South America, from the Strait of Magellan, throughout the range of the Cordillera, as far, according to M. D'Orbigny, as 8° north latitude. On the Patagonian shore, the steep cliff near the mouth of the Rio Negro, in latitude 41°, was the most northern point where I ever saw these birds, or heard of their existence; and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices which form the head of Port Desire, they are not uncommon ; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the valley were formed by steep basaltic precipices, the Condor again appeared, although in the intermediate space not one had been seen . . From these and similar facts, I believe that the presence of this bird is chiefly determined by the occurrence of perpendicular cliffs. In Patagonia the Condors, either by pairs or many together, both sleep and breed on the same overhanging ledges. In Chile, however, during the greater part of the year, they haunt the lower country, near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost in one tree ; but in the early part of summer they retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordillera, there to breed in peace. B2 |
