INTRODUCTION. 
its wings. There are eleven genera of Falcons, and at least 
seventy-eight species, and the group is a cosmopolitan one. 
Our Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris), a bulky, short, and now very 
scarce Bird, belongs to a group of fifty-one species which is 

The Common Caracara (Polyborus tharus). 
cosmopolitan, save that it is absent from Australia, Polynesia, 
and the Malay Archipelago. 
Besides the foregoing, a small group of but ten species, with 
curiously half-webbed feet, are peculiar to South America 
and are called Caracaras. The Common Caracara (Polyborus 
tharus) may serve as an example. They pair for life, and 
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