AUDUBON'S CARACARA 129 



Capt. R. D. Camp told us in 1923 that the caracara was not so 

 common in Cameron County, Tex., as it used to be. He showed us 

 only one nest, from which he had taken a set of eggs earlier in the sea- 

 son. It was about 8 feet from the ground in the crotch of a Spanish- 

 dagger yucca in open country. 



Dr. James C. Merrill (1878) and George B. Sennett (1878 and 1879) 

 both found this species common there at that time. The latter refers 

 to two quite different nests. One "rested on the branches of a sapling 

 only about nine or ten feet from the ground. This small tree was one 

 of a clump which stood under larger trees, and was so slender that 

 great care had to be taken not to shake out the eggs in getting them." 

 Near Lomita, in the taller growth of timber, "two eggs were taken 

 from a nest, forty feet high, in a hack-berry tree." 



Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes: "Judging from past accounts, 

 the caracara is on the rapid decline in southern Texas. On four 

 trips from San Antonio to the coast we saw only one bird, where 

 formerly, the ranchers told us, they were plentiful. We found a few 

 breeding on the King Ranch, making their abode about the various 

 windmills. These birds always have the male lookout stationed con- 

 spicuously near the nest, and he flushes when the intruder is still some 

 distance away. Every nest we examined was composed entirely of 

 broomweed, and was usually deep, resembling an inverted Mexican 

 hat. The nests are often very bulky and show successive layers. 

 Two-thirds of the sets observed consisted of three eggs, while the 

 remainder numbered two. An interesting nest was found in a 

 huisache tree standing alone in the center of a large, wet, grassy 

 meadow. In the tree was a caracara's nest and 50 nests of the great- 

 tailed grackle, seven of which were crowded under that of the caracara." 



Adolph E. Schutze (1904) writes, referring to central Texas: 



The nest is usually placed in the upright branches of an elm or oak, eight to 

 fifty feet above the ground. Of the thirty-five nests that I have so far found, 

 two-thirds are yearly reoccupied, but whether by the same pair of birds, I am 

 unable to say. The birds are always careful in selecting a position where they 

 are enabled to view the entire surrounding country with ease. When an intruder 

 approaches the parent immediately leaves without the slightest noise and is 

 lost to view for a time. After a short while it returns with its mate and both 

 alight on some nearby tree and watch the proceedings with much interest. * * * 

 Of the thirty-five nests that have come under my observation, thirty were com- 

 posed solely of broomweed and without a lining, two were built of broomweed 

 and small briars, while the remaining three were built of various substances, such 

 as corn husks, small sticks, broomweed, mesquite twigs and the like. Sometimes 

 old nests of hawks are appropriated, and to these are added a few broomstraws, 

 or weeds. 



In the desert regions of southern Arizona and Mexico, the caracara 

 sometimes nests in the branches of the giant cactus. It has been 

 said to nest on cliffs. The nests are said to be used for several years 



