76 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
cold, sterile country, whef® prey is scarce, the Ca- 
rancho is altogether out of place ; for it there has to 
compete with Eagles and Vultures in large numbers ; 
and these, it is almost needless to say, are, in their 
separate lines, stronger than the composite and less 
specialised Carancho. In Patagonia he is truly a 
“‘ miserable bird,’’ with a very frail hold on existence. 
How different on that illimitable grassy ocean farther 
north, where he is the lord of the feathered race, 
for Eagles and Vultures, that require mountains 
and trees to breed and roost on, do not come there 
to set him aside; there the conditions are suited to 
him and have served to develop in him a wonderfully 
bold and savage spirit. When seen perched on a 
conical ant-hill, standing erect above the tall plumy 
grass, he has a fine, even a noble appearance; but 
when flying he is not handsome, the wings being 
very bluntly rounded at the extremities and the 
flight low and ungraceful. The plumage is blackish 
in the adult, brown in the young. The sides of the 
head and breast are creamy white, the latter trans- 
versely marked with black spots. The crown is 
adorned with a crest or top-knot. The beak is much 
larger than in Eagles and Vultures, and of a dull 
blue colour ; the cere and legs are bright yellow. 
The species ranges throughout South America, 
and from Paraguay northwards is called every- 
where, I believe, Caracara. South of Paraguay the 
Spanish name is Carancho, possibly a corruption of 
Keanché, the Puelche name for the allied Milvago 
chimango, in imitation of its peevish cry. The 
