The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-10
BIGGEST THING ON WINGS.
BJRD SHARPS SLY ITIS THE GREAT
CONDOR OF THE ANDES.
The Ostrich Doesn't Fly, and Isn't In IL
The Condor's Wonderful Power of
Flight and His Keen Sisht-Other

| Tine COhuOT'B va
Flight and His Keen sight-other
Good-Sized Birds.
The ornithoogists of Great Britain
and America have just finished a splf-
tied discussion which has lasted for
more than a year, as to which is the
largest bird that flies. The prize has
been awarded to an American bird, the
great condor Of the Andes. To another
bird which is an American now, has
| been given the second prize. 1t IS the
fierce harpy eagle of the Philippines
Our own turkey comes very near the
second place, and if England succeeds
in present attempt at reintroduclng
the famous great bustard into the tight
! little island, it will have the next larg-
est bird to our turkey
In this discussion the term largest
has been defined as meaning bird
which has both the largest spread OF
wings and the heaviest weight This
combination Of two essentials has made
the exact choice for second, third and
fourth places a matter of fine calcula-
ton. But there is no question about
the choice for first place. The condor
is king.
In the United States we have, besides
the turkey, four other birds which are
ranked high in the list of the largest
/ birds. They are, the beautiful golden
eagle, the national bald-headed eagle,
| the great wild swan known specifically
as the whooper and the California con-
/ dor, which is almost as large as his
! South American brother.
| In many respects the South American
! condor is the most remarkable of all
living creatures. No other bird can fly
1 so high, Humboldt saw one flying over
! Chimborazo at a height of over $4,000
! feet 1t seems to fly as easily and
breathe as easily In the rarefied atmos-
| phere at that great height as it does
on the level of the sea. No other Gre
ated being can do this, and as no other
living creature can lift itself as far
above the earth. When flying 1t sails
in majestic circles or hangs poised in
the air as if suspended there by an in
visible cord. Darwin once watched
condor for half an hour as it hung over
an Andean valley, and never once did
he detect the slightest movement in the
great bird or its widespread pnions
Its home is above the snow line, and it
chooses as its favorite dwelling place
where great cliffs descend sheer down
for thousands of feet. 1t wanders some
times to where the cliffs of Patagonia
frown over the troubled seas, but pre-
fers to seek its food in the mountain
valleys. 1t is a bird blessed with an
appetite as remarkable as itself, and
one condor has been known to devour
a calf, a dog and a sheep in single
week. On the other hand it can go
without food for more than forty days.
But by preference the condor feed on
carIion, but if no carrion offers, it will
not hesitate to attack sheep, goats or
smaller deer.
Probably no other created animal
has such keen sight as the condor
From tremendous heights and from
great distances 1t can spy carcas and
will swoop down on it with the rush
and speed of the wind sweeping
through the mountain gorges. Though
good sized condor measures fifteen
feet in it's expanse of wing-condors
have been shot with that spread-there
seems TO be no authentic record of the
weight of condor of that size. The
weight of the bird is esteemed by good
authorities, however, at about forty
pounds for one with fifteen foot spread !
of wing. Old travellers tales tell of |
condors with an eighteen-foot spread |
of wing, but there Is no authentic rec |
ord of a bird having been measured |
which comes up to those figures. Two |
fine specimens of this condor reached |
the New York Geological society recent |
ly and are now installed in a cage in |
the Bronx park, New York. They are
not nearly full grown, but they are
huge birds even at the present stage of
their development
In putting forward the claims of the
turkey to be the third largest bird that
flies, if not the second, the tame as well
as the wild bird must be taken into
for the domestic turkey
can fly and sometimes as
cends to the "tipmost top of the talmost
tree" though he Is not so lively on the
wing as his wild brother. "The wild
turkey" says William r. Hornaday of
the Geological Gardens, lis the king of
game birds, and a faraway look comes
into his eyes as if he were thinking of
his Thanksgiving dinner. There is a
wild turkey in the Geological Gardens
which arrived there last spring-a beau
tiful specimen. He weighs twenty-eight |
pounds now, and is increasing. Domes-
tic turkeys of thirty-two pounds are not
and Audubon speaks of one
which weighed thirty-six pounds. Bona
parte-not the great emperor, but his
brother Lucien, prince of Canino-in his
work on "American Ornithology"
speaks of turkeys weighing forty
pounds, and regards all reports of lars-
ar birds as fabulous"
Benjamin Franklin wanted to have
he turkey adopted as the national bird
IF the United States instead of the
eagle, and made out a good case of the
bird as against the claims of his sue
2essful rival. Why the bird in ques-
ion has been much discussed without |
'eaching any definite conclusion. One
.heory is, that the turkey named him
self by his peculiar ''cluck," which
sounds like turk. turk, turk"
The turkey, however, while he has
he weight lacks the immense spread
IF wing which birds of the eagle tribe
nave and this uiVne tho har,y, aoo1. |