Tales About Birds, Illustrative of Their Nature, Habits, and InstinctsBingley, Thomas
General
Tales About Birds, Illustrative of Their Nature, Habits, and Instincts
Bingley, Thomas
Birds -- Juvenile literature
much pleased with it, particularly with the locks, when the Vulture
renewed his attack upon the man. Requesting permission to end the
business with my gun, he ordered his myrmidon to stand aside, and the
bird immediately fell. His head was under him, and he bled profusely,
and seemed, after being convulsed for a moment to be quite dead. It was
shot from less than four yards distance, and the gun contained six small
Turkish bullets; notwithstanding this, after we had finished our
communications, which lasted some minutes, I saw him struggling again.
He stood higher than a full-sized Turkey-cock, measured about ten feet
from point to point of his wings, and his beak and talons were
terrific.’
“Another instance of the same kind,” continued Uncle Thomas, occurred in
South America to an English Miner, who boldly attacked a Condor, single
handed. Seeing several of these animals congregated together, and
guessing that they were attracted by some dead animal, he rode up to
them and found a large flock gathered round the carcass of a Horse. One
of the largest was standing with one foot on the ground and the other on
the Horse’s body, exhibiting great muscular power as he tore off the
flesh in large pieces; sometimes pushing with his leg, and sometimes
shaking his head in his efforts to detach them. As the Miner approached,
one of the Vultures, which seemed to be gorged, flew off to a distance,
of about twenty yards; he rode up to it, and jumping from his horse
seized the bird by the neck. It struggled violently, and the man
declared he never had such a trial of strength in his life. He put his
knee on its breast, and tried with all his might to twist its neck, but
the Condor, objecting to this, fought valiantly; the man all the while
in the greatest terror lest several of its companions, which were flying
overhead, should alight and take part with their comrade. At length,
however, he overcame it, and tearing out the pinion quills of its wing
he brought them off in triumph leaving the bird as he thought dead, but
another horseman, who happened to pass that way some time after, found
it still alive and struggling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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