ey retire to
these favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the
condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as
a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in
Patagonia, they do not on ordinary occasions extend their daily
excursions to any great distance from their regular sleeping-places.

The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a
certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions I am sure
that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the Chileno
countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the
puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma which,
watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers.
Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats
and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they pass over,
to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos
destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place a
carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks with
an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback
to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this bird has not
space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from
the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which,
frequently to the number of five or six together, they roost, and then
at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as
I have myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At
Valpariso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the
common price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in had
been tied with rope, and was much injured; yet, the moment the line
was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,
it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They were fed
only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good health. The Chileno
countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigor,
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
bee