A COLLECTING party composed of Mr. H.T. Martin of the University of ß Kansas and myself, the a recent graduate of that school, spelit the latter part of x903 and the early half of 1904 in southern Argentina, the greater part of the time in Patagonia. It has been known as far back as Darwin's time that rich fossil beds exist in this country. The reading of the reports of three fossil-hunting expeditions to Patagonia, made by the late J. B. Hatcher of Princeton, led us to go to this field, where luany rare and interesting specimens rewarded the party's efforts. The palnpa, or great central plateau of Patagonia, extends from the foothills of the Andes to the Atlantic coast where it ends by an ahuost perpendicular fall of three to five hmidred feet to the seashore. The waves and currents continually undermine the cliffs and the waters wash axvay the fragments and debris where they fall below. While prospecting for fossils in these barrancas, as the cliffs are called, near the nlouth of the Rio Gallegos (52 S. Lat.) condors were frequently seen flying about the tops of the cliffs and over the plain. My previous interest in the South American condor (5'arco'aphus r3'Pus) had been aroused by numerous descriptions which I had read of its marvelous powers of flight, and my first thoughts on seeing the bird in the freedom of its native habitat were to verify the statements of early observers. Tilne and again I found uiyself prone on my back intent on this leathered giant as he wheeled and tnrned in majestic circles and curves without the slightest apparent effort until he disappeared ou the horizon or I tired of watching him. As our camp was moved from time to time to facilitate our work we had a good opportunity to examine the barrancas thoroly and at last encamped near a point about which a pair of condors were seen ahnost daily, our attention being called to this particular pair when we first neared the point by their dartiug to- ward us with a rush of wings and threatening screams. On the clear cold autumnal morning of March 18, 19(14, Martin and I equipped ourselves with firearms aud went out to capture the birds. As he neared the edge of the pampa the birds soared out from the cliffs aud circling came back toward him. tlis first shot tipped a wing of the male which wheeled and came down toward the beach where I trod stationed myself. The second shot killed the female which fell on the ocean side of a landslide, high above the beach. At this point the pampa has at some time iu the past broken away iu one gigautic piece, at least four hundred feet long and about one hundred and fifty feet across the top. The whole lump had slipped downward and outward about two hmtdred and fifty feet from its original position, leaving a perpendicular wall and wide crack or hollow which was then partially filled with earth and stones worn from the exposed surfaces. It was impossible from the beach to see the edge of NESTIN(; SITI;. O1' 'Fill'; SOUTH tlll:.l'.ICtX CONI)()I'., O\ Sl;,-CLII;I;; NOTI: 'I'H [.: x,'Ol'N(; IllliD ON Till.; NI.S'F-I,I:I)(;I;. '1'O 'I'[[F the pampa immediately above on account of the landslide. which towered aloft two hundred and fifty feet; and on the other hand, the slope of the laudslide oceanward, as well as the beach. was inx-isible from the pampa above. The male tho within two hundred feet of the beach t)efore he saw me below him was able to continue his gliding dcsceut for at least a quarter of a mile up the beach against the wind, and reaching the ground with wings outstretched to gain advantage from the breeze ran with gigantic strides up the hard pebbly shore. Iu spite of his brokeu wing he led me a weary chase for more than a mile and a half before I gained sufficiently on him to plant a fatal shot from the little twenty--two I carried, just as he walked into the surf; and in order to finally get my hands on him I was oblig'ed to run into the water to prevent his being washed entirely out of my reach. The female was found on a dangerous slope two hundred feet above the base of the cliff. On the second day, after preserving tile skills, I went up on tile pampa to the edge of tile cliff where tile landslide had occnrred and with glasses discovered a young condor on a ledge ill tile perpendicular wall twenty feet below the edge of tile cliff. By means of ropes held at tile surface by stakes. with Martin's help, I climbed down to tile ledge where tile orphaned fledgling as large as a turkey crouched ill tile most abject loneliness. She showed sollie fight as I worked my way toward her, but slipping a noose oxer a foot outstretched threateningly toward me she was easilx captured and drawn to tile pampa above. Tile shelf where tile young bird was found was a narrow ledge some fifteen feet ill len/lh bx three feet ill greatest height and width. Tile nest, if it may be called such, was nothing more than a slight depression of tile shelf at its widest and 'VOl'N(; SOIITll AMERICa. N CONDOR IN Clla. RS, C'FI.;RISTlC s, TTl'Fl'l) E ON N E.KT-L I.; I }1/2; I:, highest 1,art. There was nothing in it I)nt tile fine gravel and small fragments of broken fossil shells from tile strata out of which tile shelf was hollowed. Tile edge was white with excrement, and the epiphysis of a sheep's limb-bone was the only sign of food. A small shelf just above the nest. in tile wall of the cliff, served as a roosting place, and its edge, too. was white-washed. The heights of tile Alldes are generally regarded as the home of the condor tho it is frequently seen soaring over tile Immpa far from tile foothills. Within tile past twenty years tile grassy slopes and valleys along the coast and rivers of Pata- gonia have been dotted with extensive sheep farms. where sheep are raised for wool alone. Most of these animals (lie on the pampa of age or exposure and the abundance of food has probably illtinted the condor to extend its breeding range to the Atlantic coast where it and the native wild dog are the chief scavengers. The measurements of our gronp of birds tally with the average given for the condor, tho it is said that a species inhalfiting the heights of Eqnador has a much larger extent of wings and it nmy be a larger bird. The male's length was four feet one inch, with an extent of xxings of niue feet. The female, the exception in this fanfily of vultures, was snmller than the male, measuring but three feet seven inches in leugth, with a wing extent of seven feet eleven inches. The yonrig bird (there are said to be usually two) was a female, three feet in length with what seemed nnnsuallv large feet. She was clothed in a mouse-colored down with wing pinions and tail feathers just approachlug maturity. Her collarette of white had not yet appeared. Judging from the history of the condor. since it is said to spend the first two years of its life in the nest, this young bird must have been at least a year old. The questiou of the age of the young spcx:imen is au interesting one, in view of .M &LI'.' (Aør RIGlIT) atNl} FI.iM ,I.E S, OI'I'H at511';Rlt'&' CONDI}1/S; I'II1/2)TO.;RAPIII;D I;R()3.1 FRI;.qIlI,Y-IC. 11, I.I':I) SI'ECIMI'NS the fact that the statement is made in at least one lmblicatio1 that the yonllg condor reluains in the nest for nearly two years. Our specilnen wns taken during the latter part of the first autnmnal month in the southern helnisphere. If it was born dnring that season it conld not have been more than four or five mo1ths of age. It does not look reasolmble that the bird could have been in the nest since the previous warm season. The snow and ice of the winter of 1904 in Patagonia calne during the early part of May leaving little tilue for the maturity of the fledg- ling preparntory to the weathering of so severe a season since it would still have to depend on its parents for food. From the ilnnmtnre condition of its feathers, tho it was large in body, I aln of the opilfiOn that this bird was about four or five months old, and that it would have remained in the nest until the following spring when it would have been able to fix- and hunt with its parents, thus leaving the nest in one year There being but one young bird in the nest would teud also to discredit the accuracy of the statement that there are two eggs deposited in a nest. Nearly every picture that I took of the young specimen shows her in the act of hissing. The sound was made well back in the throat, like the passage of air thro a moderately large opening, a rather subdued sound, not unlike the sharp hiss made by the human tongue and teeth. The note of the old birds was merely a single menacing cry, perhaps most truly characterized as a scream, uttered as they darted toward us when we approached their nesting place. This cry might be compared to that of the red-tailed hawk so commonly heard in the big timber of the bottom lands of Kansas. Unfortunately the skin of the male bird spoiled iu trausit but I still have the skull and wings. The female skin Martin sold to an eastern museum, I under- stand, while the skin of the youngster is mounted in the museum of the State Normal School at Greely, Colorado. 7bpeka, A'tnsas.