340 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE MUSEUM. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 



Native name Zaninro. Abundant everywhere, especially about 

 the towns and villages, where, walking about the streets and perched 

 on the house tops, they are characteristic of every landscape. 



FALCONIDAE— THE HAWKS. 

 Eighteen of the twenty-one species recorded in the Berlepsch and 

 Hartert paper were collected by the writer on the Orinoco. The other 

 three species were recorded from points on the Caura River. 



PoLYBORUS CHERIWAY (Jacquin). 

 Falco cheriway Jaccp, Beitr. 1784. p. 17. PI. 4. 

 Polybonis auduboni Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884. p. 437 (Angostura). 

 Polyhorus cherhvay Berlepsch & Hartert, p. 11 1. 



Native name Caricari. Common. There is much variation in the 

 color of the skin on the sides of the head, of the feet and of the bill. 

 An adult female taken at Altagracia, January 31, had the iris cinna- 

 mon; bill plumbeous whitish at the tip; bare skin about face pinkish 

 white; feet whitish. A male, taken at Caicara July 4th, had the eye 

 cinnamon ; bill plumbeous whitish along the cutting edges ; bare skin on 

 face and cere grayish wdiite; feet grayish. 



Birds of this species are usually seen in pairs. In company with 

 black vultures, they occasionally feed on carrion, but more frequently 

 thev are seen hunting through the grass on the savannas, where they 

 capture small lizards and many insects. I have been told by natives 

 that many snakes are killed and eaten by these birds. They show 

 much intelligence in searching the sandy beaches for eggs of the com- 

 mon river turtle. I have seen on many occasions a pair apparently fol- 

 lowing on the trail left by a female turtle as she crawled up over the 

 beach in search of a spot where she might deposit her eggs. The birds 

 would often stop and scratch and probe about in the sand with the bill 

 and not infrequently their search was awarded by finding the coveted 

 eggs. Again I have seen a pair stationed by a nest from wdiich young 

 turtles were just emerging to fall victims to the greed of the Caracara. 

 Also I have observed them hanging about a nest of the crocodile where 

 young crocodiles were angrily flopping themselves free from the confin- 

 ing shell and snapping viciously at anything and everything in sight. 

 That the Caracara actually feeds on the young crocodile I cannot say, 

 but that he is present for any disinterested purpose is extremely doubtful. 



In the neighborhood of Caicara the Caracara nests in May. The 

 nest is placed in low Guaramal — scrub oak — trees that are found in 

 clusters dotting the savannas. 



