eeper color
than the same species on the eastern slope (Napo). In keeping with Mr.
Gould's theory is the statement by Mr. Bates, that the most gaudy
butterflies (the males) flutter in the sunshine.]

The males, both of birds and butterflies, are the most gaudily dressed.
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.
It has not the kingly port of the eagle, and is a cowardly robber: a
true vulture, it prefers the relish of putrescence and the flavor of
death. It makes no nest, but lays two eggs on a jutting ledge of some
precipice, and fiercely defends them. The usual spread of wings is nine
feet. It does not live in pairs like the eagle, but feeds in flocks like
its loathsome relative, the buzzard. It is said to live forty days
without food in captivity, but at liberty it is very voracious. The
usual method of capture is to kill an old mare (better than horse, the
natives say), and allow the bird to gorge himself, when he becomes so
sluggish as to be easily lassoed. It is such a heavy sleeper, it is
possible to take it from its roost. The evidences in favor of and
against its acute smelling powers are singularly balanced. For reasons
unknown, the condor does not range north of Darien, though it extends
its empire through clouds and storms to the Straits of Magellan. In the
Inca language it was called _cuntur_, and was anciently an object of
worship. The condor, gallinazo, turkey-buzzard, and caracara eagle (says
Darwin) "in their habits well supply the place of our carrion crows,
magpies, and ravens--a tribe of birds widely distributed over the rest
of the world, but entirely absent in South America." The condor appears
on the gold coins of New Granada and Chile. Of _Trochilidae_ there are
hosts. The valley swarms with these "winged jewels" of varied hues, from
the emerald green of Pichincha to the white of Chimborazo. They build
long, purse-like nests by weaving together fine vegetable fibres and
lichens, and thickly