THE MUSEUM. 



37 



Book Review. 



A copy of Mansell's Almanac of 

 Planetary Meteoiology for 1897 is at 

 hand for which we return our thanks. 

 This is the 22nd annual volumn and 

 contains an unusual number of val- 

 uable contributions. Mr. Mansills 

 theory is that electricity is the vital 

 force on which everything else de- 

 pends. But little attention was paid 

 for a long time to the planetory theory 

 of meteorology, but it is now being 

 recognized as something more than 

 mere coincidence of phenomena and 

 is being studied by the weather bureau 

 and many scientists. Among the most 

 interesting articles in this annual are 

 "Mars and its Canals, treating their 

 Causes of Appearance and Disappear- 

 ance. " "The moon, its Waters, Ice 

 Vapors and Hanging Clouds," "The 

 Sun as a Snow Ball," etc. Copies 

 may be had by sending 25 cents to 

 Richard Mansill, Rock Island, Ills. 



My Observations Concerning Au- 

 dubon's Caracara in 

 Southern Texas, 



It was a pleasure to spend the Win- 

 ter of 1895 and the Spring and Sum- 

 mer of i8g6 upon a ranch in Refugio, 

 one of the most southern counties af 

 Texas, in quest of additions to my 

 note books and collections of the dif- 

 ferent branches of natural science. 

 While there I was offered many oppor- 

 tunities in these lines; especially was 

 this true of Ornithology and Oology. 

 One of the most common and inter- 

 esting birds indigenous to this section, 

 I found to be Audubon's Caracara. 

 This hawk is known to the Mexican 

 contingent of the population of south- 

 ern Texas as Totache; to the Ameri- 

 cans as Mexican Eagle. They are 



looked upon by the natives as nuisanc- 

 es in the fullest sense of the word, 

 depredating as they do, upon the flocks 

 of young turkeys to be found on every 

 ranch, and even the young lambs and 

 pigs do not always escape their vicious 

 attacks. The Mexican Gopher and 

 Jack Rabbit also form one of their 

 articles of diet. Their method for 

 capturing the Jack Rabbit is rather in- 

 genious and unique. They hunt in 

 pairs, adopting or rather inventing a 

 relay system. When they discover 

 their victims secreted in the chaparal, 

 one of them makes a dash at him 

 while the other calmly observes the 

 race from his station on the top of a 

 bush. When the "starter" becomes 

 weary, his companion takes his place 

 in the race and he, in turn, is allowed 

 to be spectator. Of course it is only 

 a question of very short time until this 

 game of darting under and between 

 the chaparal must end, and then, ex- 

 hausted, the rabbit succumbs to the 

 inevitable and gives up in despair and 

 is quickly dispatched and devoured. 



I had been told by several people 

 who should be perfectly familiar with 

 the habits of the bird that they would 

 rob the Turkey \'ulture of the food it 

 had already devoured by forcing it to 

 disgorge while on the wing, catching 

 the vomit before it reached the ground. 

 I thought, however, they were only 

 seeking to guy "the fellow that 

 thought he knew so much about birds." 

 But one day while en route to a col- 

 ony of the Great Blue Heron, the idea 

 that the statement was erroneous was 

 forever banished from my not very 

 credulous mind. In crossing a hog 

 wollow prairie, we drove near the car- 

 cass of some large animal, upon which 

 several vultures were engaged in mak- 

 ing a repast. At a little distance stood 

 a Caracara majestically viewing the 

 performance and looking as though he 

 would not deign to stoop so low as to 

 feast on carrion. Presently one of 

 the vultures having appeased his hun- 

 ger arose and took flight. Immediate- 

 ly he was followed by the Caracara 



