138 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



a young Audubon's caracara. It is covered with thick down, 

 "chamois" to "cream-buff" in color; the pileum and a large patch on 

 each scapular region, extending over the upper side of the wing, are 

 "snuff brown" to "sayal brown." 



Mr. Ridgway (1887) describes the immature bird, as follows: 

 "Quills, tail, tail-coverts, head, and lesser wing-coverts much as in 

 adult; rest of plumage more or less distinctly striped with dull brown 

 and dirty brownish white or dull buffy, the former prevailing, and 

 sometimes nearly uniform on upper parts." 



Food. — Like other caracaras, the Guadalupe bird was largely a car- 

 rion feeder. Wherever the carcass of any animal or bird was left in 

 the open, these birds were sure to gather. Dr. Palmer (Ridgway, 

 1876) says: "Besides the principal sources of food-supply already 

 indicated (see below), the birds have other means of subsistence. 

 They eat small birds, mice, shell-fish, worms, and insects. To pro- 

 cure the latter, they resort to plowed fields, where they scratch the 

 ground almost like domestic fowls." Dr. Bryant (1887) writes: 

 "Their food during the season of caterpillars consists almost entirely 

 of these larvae, with a slight variation afforded by occasional beetles 

 and crickets. Whenever opportunity offers they are ready to gorge 

 themselves upon the offal of a slain goat, retiring after the banquet 

 to a convenient tree to await the process of digestion. I have never 

 known of their eating the bodies of their own species, but they do not 

 object to maldng a meal off the flesh of a fat petrel if fortune casts a 

 dead one in their way." 



Behavior. — Dr. Palmer says in his notes, quoted by Mr. Ridgway 

 (1876): 



The "Calalie" is abundant on every part of the island; and no bird could be a 

 more persistent or more cruel enemy of the poultry and domestic animals. It is 

 continually on the watch, and in spite of every precaution often snatches its prey 

 from the very doors of the houses. The destruction of the wild goats is not so 

 great, as these animals are better able to protect themselves than the tame ones. 

 No sooner is one kid born — while the mother is in labor with the second — than 

 the birds pounce upon it; and should the old one be able to interfere, she is also 

 assaulted. No kid is safe from their attacks. Should a number be together, 

 the birds unite their forces, and, with great noise and flapping of their wings, 

 generally manage to separate the weakest one and dispatch it. They sometimes 

 fasten upon the tongue when the poor creature opens its mouth to bleat, and 

 have been known to tear it out, leaving the animal to perish, if not otherwise 

 destroyed. Sometimes the anus is the point of first attack. The birds are cruel 

 in the extreme, and the torture sometimes inflicted upon the defenseless animals 

 is painful to witness. They occasionally, when pressed by hunger, attack full- 

 grown goats; numbers harass it together from all sides at once, and soon put it to 

 death. A "burro" (jackass) which had accidentally become wedged among some 

 rocks, was once furiously attacked and lost its eyes before assistance reached it. 

 Even when food is plenty, they often attack living animals instead of contenting 

 themselves with the carcasses of those already dead, seeming to delight in killing. 

 Should one of their number be disabled or wounded, it is instantly dispatched by 

 the rest. 



