Donald Hunter, age 13, of Glendale, Ariz , for his question

IS THE CONDOR REALLY A VULTURE?

Condor is the common name for two large birds of prey the California condor and the Andean condor. Both are definitely vultures.

The two birds are the largest living flying birds. Each has a wingspan of almost 10 feet and weights from 20 to 25 pounds. They are called New World vultures.

The California condor, the largest North American bird, is unfortunately one of the rarest today. After the Ice Age it apparently retreated to the western highlands When the Forty Niners first went West, the California condor was still fairly plentiful in the California mountains, but the population is now reduced to a few pairs breeding in the coastal range of south central California to northern Lower California.

Man has always been the California condor's chief enemy. for little else is able to prey upon it. Though the bird was never hunted for sport, so large a target coming within range of any hunter is almost too tempting to resist.

Shooting alone does not account entirely for its rapid disappearance, for it is comparatively shy and not easily approached within gunshot range. Many were poisoned by strychnine which ranchers inserted into dead cattle to kill wolves and coyotes.

Two other factors were the decline of the condor's usual food as the settling of the West reduced the population of wild animals, and the species' very slow rate of reproduction. The California condor lays but a single egg and the birds do not breed until they are at least six years old.

The great Andean condor, while rare, is apparently not in as grave danger of extermination as its northern cousin. It lives in the high Andes from Venezuela and Colombia south to Patagonia, and its range covers such a wide expanse of sparsely settled territory that its chances of survival are better than are those of the California condor.

Condors build nests of a few sticks on the bare rocks of mountains. The young are unable to fly during the first year of life. Like other vultures, condors usually feed on carrion or dead and decaying flesh but they will sometimes attack living prey.

The California condor has a bare, yellowish head and neck with a ruff of dark feathers, and the plumage is a sooty black with traces of gray and white.

The South American condor is not as large as the North American species but is usually heavier. The bare head is covered with wrinkled gray skin The male has wattles beneath the jaw and the head bears a prominent red, cartilaginous comb. The adult has black plumage with white markings on the neck.

The Andean condor probably flies higher than any other bird. It has been observed in flight at 23,000 feet and its usual habitat is at elevations between 10,000 and 15,000 feet.