276 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



lizards, and small mammals. Though they are not regularly aggres- 

 sive I saw one stoop at a groove-billed ani which hid on the ground 

 at the base of a low stub, on which the hawk perched to look for its 

 prey. Immediately it was attacked so fiercely by a fork-tailed fly- 

 catcher that the hawk ducked and turned about repeatedly in such 

 confusion that the ani escaped unnoticed. Country people complain 

 that caracaras take young chickens. I have noticed them lingering about 

 more powerful hawks that were carrying prey or feeding, and have 

 seen them eating bits of flesh that I have discarded in the preparation 

 of specimens. In the Pearl Islands it is common to see them along 

 the beaches, half running, half flying in pursuit of the abundant crabs. 

 Their notes are harsh, including some high pitched, and some that are 

 squalling sounds. 



The nest, of good size, built of sticks is placed in trees. Two eggs 

 constitute the usual set. Col. L. R. Wolfe (Ool. Rec, vol. 18, 1938, p. 

 37) describes eggs of the typical race from Brazil and Paraguay as 

 varying "from deep red, red smeared with dark mahogany, and 

 brown to light yellowish-brown." Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 3, 

 1961, p. 186) gives the measurements of 5 eggs of the race cordatiis 

 as 41 .2-46.0 X 33.3-38.2 mm. 



In the Pearl Islands these birds are known as the aguirre, in the 

 southern Azuero Peninsula they were called guaracho, and in Code 

 province I heard them called gavildn garrapatero. 



This northern race of the species, found from Panama through 

 Colombia and Venezuela to northern Brazil, differs in the adult from 

 Milvago chimachima chimachima (Vieillot) of the region south of 

 the Amazon River in the marking of the tail in which the dark bars are 

 definitely wider and heavier, with the white marks equal to the dark 

 ones or narrower. In M. c. cordatus the dark tail bars are appreciably 

 narrower. Also, cordatus averages slightly darker buff on the head 

 and underparts, a character, however, that is not completely definitive 

 since this color may fade as the feathering becomes worn. The im- 

 mature cordatus has the markings on the lower surface browner. 



DAPTRroS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Boddaert): Red-throated 

 Caracara; Cacao 



Figure 48 



Falco americanus Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 25. (Cayenne.) 



Easily identified by the bare bright red or orange-red skin on the 

 throat and side of the head and the black-and-white plumage. 



Description. — Length 490 to 560 mm. Adult (sexes alike), throat, 

 upper foreneck, and side of head, around and directly behind the 



