A BALLOON ATTACKED BY A CONDOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1515, 24 March 1887, Page 2

A BALLOON ATTACKED BY A CONDOR.

After my smoke I indulged m a siesta, for I had slept little the night before and the day was ovorpoworlngly hot. I don't know how long I slept, but I awoke with a start and to senao of surprise, not remembering for a moment where I was. Then I rubbed my eyes, and shading them with my hands, looked up into the sky. "Hang it!" I thought. "What can that speck be? A cload?" Hardly. Bat whatever it might be It grew bigger and came nearer as I looked. » I took my glass and looked again. The speck was a bird — a very big bird, or at that dtafanoe, for it mast have been miles away, I could not have seen it at all. I watched the creature with sleepy oarbsity, speculating as to the rate' at which it might be travelling, and recalling the stories I had read of the rapid fl gat of vultures and falcons, and their wonderful powers of scent Bnd vision, when it struck me thit this particular bird I had m view seemed to be making straight for the balloon, from its great size, moreover, I took it to be a condor, the largest of known birds, a veritable monarch of the air, more than a match for buffalo or jagaar, strong enough to carry off a man as easily as an eagle carry off a leveret. A single dash of its olaws Into the balloon would mean sudden collapse and swift dtetrnctlon. The thought was appalling. I watched the huge thing with intense anxiety, hoping against hope that it had some other object, and would give me a wide berth. 1 But when it got within a mile and still came on aa Btraight as a die, I knew that I must prepare for a difficulty. 1 took up the repeat ; ng rlflj, for which I had sent to England, resolving to fire the moment the bird came well within range and I could be sure cf my aim. When the great bird was about five hundred yards off he pulled up, and, poising himself on his outstretched wings, which must have reached fully fourteen feet, seemed to be making a critical survey of the balloon and its occupant. It was evidently the first ornithological specimen of the sort he had seen, and he was probably thinking whether it was eaie to attack, or good to eat. Then be wheeled slowly round, coming every time a little nearer, and I could now see, by the cartilaginous comb that crowned his head and the wattle which enveloped his neck, thnf. he was a malo. At length ho nppoared to have raude up lits mind for a closer inspection, and with extended neck made straight for the balloon. In doing this he exposed bis breast, for which, kneeling m the car, and taking steady aim, I fired. The condor dropped like a stone ; but only a few yards, and to rise again to the level of the balloon. On (his I fired again— this time at the junction of the wing with the body. The shot was fatal — the wounded wing dropped useless by his side, and after a desperate effort to recover itself, the bird fell sheer down, struck against a pinnacle oE rock, and disappeared among the trees which grew at its foot.— "The Phantom City," by Win. WostaJl.