The Raven of the Pampas 



zard — the crows care little. The black tribe are 

 not good eating ; they are strong on the wing, 

 hard fighters when brought down, and they are 

 too strong in esprit de corps to be attacked with 

 impunity. I used to know a peregrine falcon 

 in Calcutta who had, when he first took up his 

 residence in the cold weather — falsely so called 

 — to put up with a lot of vulgar abuse from the 

 local crows ; but he never offered to cut one 

 down, an event I used to sincerely hope for. 

 But there is a clan of hawks in South America 

 — the sub-family Polyborince of ornithologists — 

 which have far too lar^e a dash of the crow in 

 their own composition to be lightly dealt with 

 by the black brigade. And chief of these, taking 

 the place of the raven in the North, is the cara- 

 cara, or carancho (Po/ydortis brasiliensis), which 

 ranges from the Southern States of the Union 

 to beyond the Straits of Magellan. It is a fine 

 handsome bird, equalling, or exceeding, its cor- 

 vine rival in size, and standing high on its legs. 

 Its handsomely barred plumage of black-brown 

 and cream-colour sets off its proportions, and its 

 large strong bill is of a delicate French grey, 

 contrasting well with the bare face, which, as 

 mentioned in the chapter on " Blushing Birds," 

 is pink or yellow, according to circumstances. 

 The young birds in their first plumage are less 

 striking, being of a dull brown colour, with 



§5 



