who
seek its destruction by a variety of means. Firearms are, however,
useless, as its thick and strongly-constructed coat of feathers will
turn aside a bullet. Besides, it is so tenacious of life, that one has
been known to receive several bullets in its body, and to have lived a
considerable time afterwards. The shepherds train their dogs to give
notice of the approach of a condor; and the moment one appears in the
sky, they look upwards, and bark violently till their masters appear.
Among other modes which the natives employ to capture it, they kill an
old mare--which they have an idea is better than a horse--and allow the
bird to gorge itself. It then becomes so sluggish, that they can
without difficulty throw their bolas round its neck and legs. It also
sleeps so soundly, that they frequently manage to approach it when at
roost, and capture it in the same way.

In the province of Abacay, in Peru, another method is employed. A
native fastens a quantity of putrid flesh to a fresh cow-skin, under
which he lies hid with a supply of rope. When the condor pounces down
upon the meat, and remains gorging himself, the native fastens its legs
by means of the rope to the skin. As soon as this is done, he creeps
from beneath it. The frightened bird in vain attempts to escape.
Immediately the hunter's companions, rushing forward, throw their bolas
over the bird, and make it captive. Frequently several are thus caught
at the same time.

The cruel and disgusting custom of bull-baiting is still kept up in the
country, and the condors are employed to add to the terror and
sufferings of the unhappy bull. Before the unfortunate animal is driven
into the circus, his back is laid bare with a lance, and one of the
birds, which has been starved for a week or more, is bound upon it. The
famished condor immediately attacks the raw, quivering flesh of the poor
beast; and while it is thus engaged, the bull is driven into the midst
of the arena, to afford amusement to the savage spectators.

There is among the mountains a natural funnel-shaped excavation, sixty
feet in depth, and about eighty feet in diameter at the top. The
Indians place, on the edge of the pit, the putrid body of a mule, so
balanced that it will easily fall over. In a short time it is
discovered by numbers of condors, which, darting down, greedily attack
it. Tugging and pulling at the flesh, they soon draw it over the edge,
when it falls to the bottom of t