y
unsafe; but now the journey may be performed without danger if the
_Birlocheros_ (coach-drivers) are in the least degree careful.

The zoology of the neighborhood of Valparaiso is not very interesting,
though more so along the sea-shore than in parts further inland. Among
the Mammalia are sometimes seen the fox (_Canis Azarae_, Wild.), and
the pole-cat. In the immediate vicinity of the town a very large mouse
is seen in the burrows of the ground; it is of the eight-toothed
species (_Octodon Cummingii_, Benn.), and has a brush-formed tail. As
the fields round Valparaiso are not cultivated these animals do no
harm, otherwise they would be the plague of agriculture, and probably
are so in the interior parts of the country. Now and then a sea-dog
may be observed in the bay; but the whale is seldom seen, and whenever
one appears he is immediately killed, as there is always a whaler at
anchor and not far off.

In the market, live condors are frequently sold. These birds are caught
in traps. A very fine one may be purchased for a dollar and a half. I
saw eight of these gigantic birds secured in a yard in a very singular
manner. A long narrow strap of leather was passed through the nostrils
of the bird and firmly knotted at one end, whilst the other end was
fastened to a wooden or iron peg fixed in the ground. By this means the
motion of the bird was not impeded: it could walk within the range of a
tolerably wide circle; but on attempting to fly it fell to the ground
head foremost. It is no trifling matter to provide food for eight
condors; for they are among the most ravenous of birds of prey. The
owner of those I saw assured me that, by way of experiment, he had
given a condor, in the course of one day, eighteen pounds of meat
(consisting of the entrails of oxen); that the bird devoured the
whole, and ate his allowance on the following day with as good an
appetite as usual. I measured a very large male condor, and the width
from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was fourteen English
feet and two inches--an enormous expanse of wing, not equalled by any
other bird except the white albatross. (_Diomedea exulans_, Linn.).
The snipes (_Scolopax frenata_, Ill.) found on the little plain
between the bay and the light-house are in color precisely like those
of Europe, from which, however, they differ in having two more
feathers in their tails. Small green parrots, little bigger than
finches, are tamed and brought to Val