Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-23
From Tie Nelo YORK Times.

OnsuCCGsslui attempts
From the Nelo York Times.
''The CHILEAN Government has declared
and is carrying on novel war;" said
Cornelius W. Ryerson. of this city, who ar
rived here from South America recently,
sand that is war of determination
against the gigantic vulture of the Andes,
the condor. The government issued a
proclamation last year declaring the bird
to DO all enemy of the republic. Condors
have increased so rapidly within the past
few years all along the whole western
slope Of the great mountain chain which
is their habitat that they have become bv
their foul habits a scOurge that has in
creased the already sufficiently unwhole-
some character of the country. With the
hope Of eXterminating them, or at least
greatly decreasing their numbers. the
government, in its proclamation. offered
bounty of 50 for ever condor killed. A
friend Of mine who lives in Chill wrote to
me that he believed there was a chance to
make great deal of money by engaging
in condor hunting, and as l had several
years experience in mountain climbing
and hunting all sorts of wild beasts and
birds both in this and other countries |
might be in this condor hunting. Well. |
was there five months, and after per-
slstent campaign against the condor with
guns and traps made up my mind that
a man has got to be 100 per cent. smarter
than | am if he ever gets rich on condor
bOunties, and that if the Gillian Govern
ment expects to rid itselfof its big-wlnged
outlaw it will have to detail every man,
woman and child in the country to take
uparms against it.
The hunting of condors has been
regular business in the Andes mountains
for many years, and the natives have
made some money at it, but. like all the
yulture family, the condor grows suspi-
clous ard wary from contact with man
Kind, ana It has grown to know and fear
gun SO that it is next to impossible to
Get within gunshOt of one. Shares are
now the only means by which cOndors
may be taken with any certainty, and
they nave learned to be on the lookout for
them. These birds have the most Won
dertul powers Of vision and flight of any
living creature of the air. Perched on
mountain peaks above the clouds. they
watch the trails which mules and llamas
follow with their burdens thousands Of
feet be Ow them. and if animal dies and is
lett On the plain these monster vultures
see IT. and although no human sight can
discover the pre- essence of a single bird. in
few seconds time they win be seen
dropping down from the clouds like thun-
derbolts. Formerly the hunter took adj
vantage of this swOOplng down upon the
carcasses OF dead animals by hiding with
in gunshot and picking off one or two
condors before they could rise out of
range. Traps were also set beside dead
bodies of mules and other animals. But
this can rarely be done successfully now,
so wary has the condor become. The
same wonderful eyes that keep the trail
ing caravan in view or discover the car
cass left lying for its use, notes also the
hunter hiding with his gun or the trapDer
arranging his snare by the carcass, md
the bird remains in safety on its perch.
To shoot 1t on the wing, unless YOU are
fortunate enough to lie secreted near
some lofty peak when the bird comes
sailing through the clouds to seek it for a
perch, is entirely out of the question, for
it flies AT attitudes such as no other bird
attalns. This lying in wait, however, far
above the Sow line for a chance to put a
h3ll through condor is something that
requires more grit and nerve than the
average hunter can boast, and conse-
Quantly there are not many cOndOrs killed
on the wing. These birds hatch their
young among the snow-cOvered crags of
the Andes, sometimes - 600 feet above the
sea, and the bird has been seen at an alti-
" a
you may hear of some hunter bold enough
TO Chamber to the nesting places among
these crags in search of condor nests, as
the capture of the young or the eggs is as
profitable as killing a grown bird, but
such exploits are few and far between.
There are always two eggs in a nest, and,
as there is nothing that ventures to make
the condor it's prey except the hunter,
when condor makes its nest it does so
with moro certainty that fbprn will bo
more of its Kind added to the family in the
course Of time than does any other bird
or beast. Traps are set as high among
these nesting places as the hunter can
dave to venture, and many of the birds are
captured in that way.
"There is no more startling sight than
from some snowy rock so high in the
mountains that the clouds hide the world
from your view to see one of these inn
morse birds break suddenly through the
dense VapOr below you and sail upward
with the broad sweep of its ponderOus
wings into the haunts where it dwels
alone in the solitude. IL seems like some
winged demon daring to seek the realms
Of the Sky. This bird can stand a rance
of temperature beyond which human eX-
lstence is impossible, and is at home
among the snowy peaks Of Chill and Peru,
as well as upon the burning sands of Pata-
g0nia. With a sweep of wing twelve feet
in extent the swiftness of a cOndOr's
flight is such that it will sail out of sight,
Notwithstanding its great size, within the
space of very few minutes. 1t may with
ease eat its breakfast in the Northern
Andes and twelve hours later 90 TO
roost among the peaks Of the southern sea
coast.
"lf it were possible to get at the nests of
the condor so that its eggs might be de-
stroyed, there might be some chance that
the 0utlawed bird would in time be eXter-
minated, but the systematic scaling Of icy
peaks to the height Of anywhere from
1000 to $4,000 feet above the ocean for
the purpose Of birdnesting, even at s. a
nest, is not likely to ever come TO pass.
Poisoning of the birds might be made eff
iectual, but unless some poison can be
made so deadly that it will kill the bird as
10 stands over the carcass il is devOuring
'lt means OF determination cannot be
DC practical. The hunter must pro-
uce the evidence that he has killed a
ndor before he can secure the bounty.
1at evidence Is the birds head. A poi
oned bird would carey on that evidence
with him and die with 10 anon. inacces-
shle peaks. Tee poisoning OF condOrs
has been tried AMI was not satisfactory 10
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