Further South, Among The Bold Precipices
At The Head Of Port Desire, The Condor Is 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 are formed by steep
basaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts
it seems that the condors require perpendicular cliffs. In
Chile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night
several roost together 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.
With respect to their propagation, I was told by the
country people in Chile, that the condor makes no sort of
nest, but in the months of November and December lays
two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. It is said that
the young condors cannot fly for an entire year; and long
after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
hunt by day with their parents. The old birds generally live
in pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa
Cruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually haunt. On
coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, it was a grand
spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these great
birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks
they must long have frequented this cliff for roosting and
breeding. Having gorged themselves with carrion on the
plains below, they retire to these favourite 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, that 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:
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