62 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
F 
little nearer and into the charmed circle, it would 
make a sudden rapid dash and buffet the intruder 
violently back to a proper distance, returning after- 
wards to its own stand. 
CHIMANGO, OR COMMON CARRION 
HAWK 
Milvago chimango 
Upper plumage reddish brown; greater wing-coverts white with 
slight brown cross-bars; tail greyish white, banded and freckled with 
greyish brown. Under plumage grey, tinged with rufous on throat 
and breast; length 15, wing 11, tail 6.5 inches. Sexes alike. 
AzARA says of the Carancho (Polyborus tharus) : 
“ All methods of subsistence are known to this 
bird : it pries into, understands, and takes advantage 
of everything.’”’ These words apply better to the 
Chimango, which has probably the largest bill of 
fare of any bird, and has grafted on to its own 
peculiar manner of life the habits of twenty diverse 
species. By turns it is a Falcon, a Vulture, an insect- 
eater, and a vegetable-eater, On the same day you 
will see one bird in violent Hawk-like pursuit of its 
living prey, with all the instincts of rapine hot within 
it, and another less ambitious individual engaged in 
laboriously tearing at an old cast-off shoe, uttering 
mournful notes the while, but probably more con- 
cerned at the tenacity of the material than at its 
indigestibility. 
A species so cosmopolitan in its tastes might have 
