CARANCHO 87 
ing on the small of the neck just behind the head, 
while in some cases the head had been completely 
wrenched off. 
The Gauchos when snaring Partridges (Tinamus) 
frequently bribe the Caranchos to assist them. The 
snarer has a long slender cane with a small noose at 
the extremity, and when he sights a Partridge he 
gallops round it in circles until the bird crouches 
close in the grass; then the circles are narrowed 
and the pace slackened, while he extends the cane 
and lowers it gradually over the bewildered bird 
until the small noose is dropped over its head 
and it is caught. Many Partridges are not dis- 
posed to sit still to be taken in this open, bare- 
faced way; but if the snarer keeps a Carancho 
hovering about by throwing him an occasional 
gizzard, the wariest Partridge is so stricken with 
fear that it will sit still and allow itself to be 
caught. 
In the love season the male Caranchos are fre- 
quently seen fighting; and sometimes, when the 
battle is carried on at a great height in the air, the 
combatants are seen clasped together and falling 
swiftly towards the earth; but, in all contests I have 
witnessed, the birds have not been so blinded with 
passion as to fall the whole distance before separating. 
Besides these single combats, in which unpaired or 
jealous males engage in the love-season, there are 
at all times occasional dissensions amongst them, 
the cause of which it would be difficult to determine. 
Here again, as often in hunting, the birds combine 
