The larger kinds he can master, by attacking their eyes with his powerful beak--which is his principal weapon.

That he can kill boys of sixteen years old, as Garcilaso de la Vega asserts, is, like many other statements of that celebrated author, simply untrue; but that he frequently attacks, and, according to the Indians, sometimes _puts to death_ little children, is probable enough.
If he can kill full-grown sheep or vicunas, there is nothing remarkable about his doing the same for a child five or six years of age; and, indeed, it is certain that such instances have occurred.
"Almost any eagles can do as much, and would, provided they were hungry, and children were left exposed in the neighbourhood of their haunts.
The condor, however, is one of the most ravenous of his species.

One in a state of captivity has been known to eat eighteen pounds of flesh in a single day! But that this bird can raise into the air with his claws, and carry off large animals, such as deer and sheep, as asserted by Acosta, Desmarchais, and other French and Spanish writers, is altogether fabulous.
"The condor, unlike the vultures of most countries, is not under the protection of the law.

His destructive habits among the lambs, and young lamas and alpacas, render him an object to be persecuted rather than protected.

He is, therefore, either killed or captured, whenever an opportunity offers.