The food of these gigantic birds consists principally of carrion; but they also destroy pumas, vicunas, sheep, and even calves, and thus work terrible havoc among the flocks and herds of the sturdy mountaineers, who are compelled to train their watch-dogs for the especial duty of barking incessantly as long as one of these formidable marauders is within sight of their flocks. Modern writers all agree in corroborating the statement of the Indians that this species never molests children, and as much as possible avoids the vicinity of man, though, if actually attacked, it displays extraordinary courage, as the following extract from the journal of Sir Francis Head fully shows:--"In riding along the plain I passed a dead horse, about which were forty or fifty Condors. Many of them were gorged and unable to fly from repletion, several were standing on the ground, devouring the carcase, the rest hovering over it. I rode within twenty yards of them, and saw one of them displaying his strength as he lifted the flesh and tore out great pieces, sometimes shaking his head and pulling with his beak, and sometimes pushing with his leg. Got to Mendoza and went to bed. Wakened by one of my party who arrived. He told me that, seeing the Condors hovering in the air, he also had ridden up to the dead horse, and as one of these enormous birds flew about fifty yards off and was unable to go any further, he rode up to him, and, jumping off his horse, seized him by the neck. The contest was as extraordinary as the rencontre was unexpected. My companion said that he had never had such a battle in his life; that he had put his knee upon the bird's breast and tried with all his strength to twist his neck, but that the Condor, objecting to this, struggled violently, and, moreover, that as several others were flying over his head he expected that they would attack him. At last he succeeded in killing his antagonist, and showed me with great pride the large feathers from his wings." The preparations made by these birds for their young are extremely slight; indeed, in most instances the two eggs laid by the female are deposited upon the bare rock. The eggs are large, the shell yellowish white, spotted with brown. When first hatched, the young are covered with a coat of grey down; they grow but slowly, and remain under the protection of their parents long after they are fully fledged. Some tribes of Indians prize the heart and other portions of the body of the Condor as invaluable specifics for many serious maladies, and more than one modern writer has testified to their efficacy in certain complaints. When caged this gigantic bird has been known to become comparatively tame, and attached to its keeper. THE CALIFORNIAN CONDOR.