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CONDOR (Sarcorhamphus gryphus)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 852 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONDOR (Sarcorhamphus gryphus)  , an See also:American See also:vulture, and almost the largest of existing birds of See also:flight, although by no means attaining the dimensions attributed to it by See also:early writers . It usually See also:measures about 4 ft. from the point of the See also:beak to the extremity of the tail, and 9 ft. between the tips of its wings, while it is probable that the expanse of wing never exceeds 12 ft . The See also:head and See also:neck are destitute of feathers, and the former, which is much flattened above, is in the male crowned with a caruncle or See also:comb, while the skin of the latter in. the same See also:sex lies in folds, forming a wattle . The adult plumage is of a See also:uniform See also:black, with the exception of a frill of See also:white feathers nearly surrounding the See also:base of the neck, and certain wing feathers which, especially in the male, have large patches of white . The See also:middle toe is greatly elongated, and the hinder one but slightly See also:developed, while the talons of all the toes are comparatively straight and See also:blunt, and are thus of little use as See also:organs of prehension . The See also:female, contrary to the usual See also:rule among birds of See also:prey, is smaller than the male . The See also:condor is a native of See also:South See also:America, where it, is confined to the region of the See also:Andes, from the Straits of See also:Magellan to 40 See also:north See also:latitude, the largest examples, it is said, being found about the See also:volcano of Cayambi, situated on the See also:equator . It is often seen on the shores of the Pacific, especially during the See also:rainy See also:season, but its favourite haunts for roosting and breeding are at elevations of 10,000 to 16,000 ft .. There, during the months of See also:February and See also:March, on inaccessible ledges of See also:rock, it deposits two white eggs, from 3 to 4 in. in length, its See also:nest consisting merely of a few sticks placed around the eggs: The See also:period of See also:incubation lasts for seven See also:weeks, and the See also:young are covered with a whitish down until almost as large as their parents . They are unable to See also:fly till. nearly two years old, and continue for a considerable See also:time after taking wing to roost and See also:hunt with their parents . The white See also:ruff on the neck, and the similarly coloured feathers of the wing, do not appear until the completion of the first moulting . By preference the condor feeds on carrion, but it does not hesitate to attack See also:sheep, goats and See also:deer, and for this See also:reason it is hunted down by the shepherds, who, it is said, See also:train their See also:dogs to look up and bark at'the condors as they fly overhead .

They are exceedingly voracious, a single condor of moderate See also:

size having been known, according to See also:Orton, to devour a See also:calf, a sheep and a See also:dog in a single See also:week . When thus .gorged with See also:food, they are exceedingly stupid, and may then be readily caught . For this purpose a See also:horse or muleis killed, and the carcase surrounded with palisades to which the condors are soon attracted by the prospect of food, for the See also:weight of See also:evidence seems to favour the See also:opinion that those vultures owe their knowledge of the presence of carrion more to sight than to See also:scent . Having feasted themselves to excess, they are set upon by the hunters with sticks, and being unable, owing to the want of space within the See also:pen, to take the run without which they are unable to rise on wing, they are readily killed or captured . They See also:sleep during the greater See also:part of the See also:day, searching for food in the clearer See also:light of See also:morning and evening . They are remarkably heavy sleepers, and are readily captured by the inhabitants ascending the trees on which they roost, and noosing them before they awaken . See also:Great See also:numbers of condors are thus taken alive, and these, in certain districts, are employed in a variety of See also:bull-fighting . They are exceedingly tenacious of See also:life, and can exist, it is said, without food for over See also:forty days . Although the favourite haunts of the condor are at the level of perpetual See also:snow, yet it rises to a much greater height, . See also:Humboldt having observed it flying over Chimborazo at a height of over 23,000 ft . On wing the movements of the condor, as it wheels in majestic circles, are remarkably graceful . The birds flap their wings on rising from the ground, but after attaining a moderate See also:elevation they seem to See also:sail on the See also:air, See also:Charles See also:Darwin having watched them for See also:half an See also:hour without once observing a flap of their wings .

End of Article: CONDOR (Sarcorhamphus gryphus)
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