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Show CONDOR A DISAPPOINTMENT. Visitors Expect to See a Bird That Rivals In Size the Fabled Hoc. If the visitor to the zoological gardens will make his way to the vultures' aviary, ho will find a condor of the Andes. An-des. When he sees the great somber plum-aged plum-aged bird sitting on the tree stump in the middle of a not too roomy cage, his first feeling will probably be one of disappointment. disap-pointment. Sonio of this disappointment must be put down to the highly exag-1 gerated accounts of early writers. The measurement of 18 feet has beerf given as the wing spread of a bird actnally killed and taped. Darwin shot one in 1834 with a wing spread of 8 feet 6 1 inches, and it measured 4 feet .from beak to tail. The measurements of one that fell to Humboldt's gun tally pretty closely with those of the bird that Darwin Dar-win killed. Part of the disappointment is no doubt due to the surroundings. One has formed form-ed vivid mental pictures of the bird sailing at a great height without an effort, ef-fort, soaring in graceful circles, or gliding glid-ing down like lightning npon its prey. One sees it sitting with its head drawn down between its wings, and its plumage plum-age draggled, without sufficient space over which to run to gather momentum for a rise, or height enough to fly if it could leave the ground. Sometimes, from the top of its perch, it attempts to use its wings, but its efforts result in ' failure. " It WB9 Ion V1T(T1 .l!m.'t 'prorn'umMj'oaitBO (Kw imwii-IU theSO. birds is by no means keen. They probably proba-bly discover their food by sight, and the descent of one bird serves as a signal to others at a distance. A young condor is a much prettier object ob-ject than an old one.. It is clothed entirely en-tirely in white down, and when it settles set-tles itself to sleep, with its feet hidd and its head tucked away, it look3 li a fluffy white ball. The plumage of the adult is blar with a white ruff round the neck, a the quills have a white edging, whi becomes br vder at each successi molt. Loi Sketch. |