The Raven of the Pampas 



and two young, united in the chase, for it is 

 one of the peculiarities of the caracara that, like 

 the crow tribe, it appreciates the advantages of 

 co-operation, being more sociable than the nobler 

 hawks. Its general disposition, according to the 

 various good observers who have recorded its 

 ways, is certainly remarkably like that of the 

 corvine birds. Like them, it is essentially a 

 waiter on opportunity, a persecutor of the weak 

 and the wounded, and an unfailing attendant at 

 the obsequies of any beast which may perish in 

 its vicinity. 



Like our hooded crow, it is ever ready to 

 devour the sportsman's game if he leaves it in 

 its reach, and its attacks on young lambs and 

 weakly sheep bring on it the same retribution 

 which falls on the crow and raven elsewhere. 

 Don Felix d'Azara's words about it, " All 

 methods of subsistence are known to this bird ; 

 it pries into, understands, and takes advantage 

 of everything," are just such as might be applied 

 to any crow which is sufficiently well known ; 

 and it is particularly interesting to find a recent 

 naturalist, Mr. E. Gibson, mentioning that the 

 carancho has little fear of man when not in pos- 

 session of a gun, making bold, under these 

 circumstances, to attack a lamb quite close to 

 the shepherd. On one occasion Mr. Gibson 

 was collecting egrets' eggs, and found that a 



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