282 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



the coast during winter. I found them on Santa Margarita 

 Island, Magdalena Island, Guadalupe Island, and several 

 places on the peninsula. 



132. Polyborus cheriway (Jacq.) 



Audubon's Caracara, — Mr. Belding notes this species as 

 common at the Cape region; at Cape St. Lucas they were 

 abundant April 1 to May 17. I found them occasionally on 

 Santa Margarita Island and coastwise on the peninsula, but 

 they are not often seen north of latitude 26^; two were said 

 to have hung around a beach camp at Santo Domingo, on 

 San Sebastian Viscaino Bay, north of lat. 28°. At Mag- 

 dalena Bay settlement I saw more than elsewhere; at that 

 place they were even more filthy in habits than the buzzards, 

 resorting to an arroyo back of the village, where they 

 scratched over excrement for food, getting their feet and 

 bills smeared so that only those in good plumage were con- 

 sidered fit for specimens. 



133. Polyborus lutosus Eidgw. 



Guadalupe Caracara. — Observations on this insular 

 species were published in Bull. Cal. Acad. Sci., vol. II, pp. 

 281-284. So effective has been the work of extermination 

 carried on against this bird that Dr. Edward Palmer who 

 first discovered them in 1875, says that he visited the island 

 this year (1889) and did not see a single individual. He 

 tells me that when he landed, fourteen years ago, the 

 '^ qiielelis," as they are known there, were so numerous and 

 bold that men were obliged to stand over the angora goats 

 with sticks to protect them from attack, particularly the 

 kids, which were not defended by their mothers. The short- 

 haired kind will drive off the birds, so Dr. Palmer says, 

 from his observation. Now that man has abandoned the 

 island I cherish the hope that a pair at least may still be 

 living, and that some future explorer may succeed in find- 

 in<;- the unknown eggs, and give us an account of the nest- 

 ing habits of this peculiar insular species. 



