Bonap. Am. Orn. IV. pl. 22. Temm. pl. col. 133, 408, 464. Zool. Voy.
Bonité, Birds, pl. 2, (Paris, 1841.)
Size, large. Head, neck, and large space on the breast, bare. Plumage,
black, with a white space on the wing; neck, with a collar or ruff of
white downy feathers; plumage of the back, the quills and tail
frequently with a gray tinge. Head above with a large caruncle or
comb, and others on the sides of the head and neck.
Total length of skin, about 4 feet, wing about 2 feet 6 inches, tail
about 15 inches.
Hab. South America.
Obs. The famous Condor of the Andes, though it has been admitted as a
North American bird into the works of Bonaparte and Nuttall, cannot at
present, in our opinion, be so regarded. The description in the History
of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which was supposed to relate to
this bird, and has been the sole authority for its introduction by the
authors just mentioned, very probably applies to the Californian
Vulture. No other travellers have seen the Condor, either at the
localities mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, or elsewhere in North America.
It is common in the western parts of South America. The most complete
descriptions with which we are acquainted are by Humboldt, in Zoological
Observations, I. p. 26, (Recuil d’Observationes de Zoologie et
d’Anatomie comparée Paris, 1811, quarto,) and by Darwin in Zoology of
the Voyage of the Beagle, Birds, p. 3, (London, 1841,) and by the same
author in Voyage of a Naturalist, I. p. 234, 238, (American edition, New
York, 1846, duodecimo.)