AVES FALCONID^. 6oi 



Bill : Dull horn-blue ; cere dull greenish. 



Feet bright orange ; claws black. 



Iris brown. 



Geographical Range. — South America from southern Brazil on the 

 Atlantic Coast to Peru on the Pacific, thence south to the Straits of Magel- 

 lan ; Tierra del Fuego ; the Falkland Islands. 



The fine series of this harrier procured by the naturalists of the Prince- 

 ton Expedition throws much light on the phases of plumage through 

 which the birds pass. While not a very abundant bird, it seems to be a 

 widely distributed species and appears to have no great migratory move- 

 ment, being present throughout the year in the particular regions it affects. 

 These are the more open country, where it ranges the ground much as do 

 the harriers of Europe and North America. The birds breed on the ground 

 on beds of dry grass, without much attempt at nest building ; the eggs are 

 pale bluish white. 



Hudson in his Naturalist in La Plata, pp. 93-94, says : 



"Hawks are the most open, violent and persistent enemies birds have; 

 and it is really wonderful to see how well the persecuted kinds appear to 

 know the power for mischief possessed by different raptorial species, 

 and how exactly the amount of alarm exhibited is in proportion to the 

 extent of the danger to be apprehended. Some raptors never attack birds, 

 others only occasionally ; still others prey only on the young and feeble ; 

 and, speaking of La Plata district, where I have observed hawks, from the 

 Milvago chimango — chiefly a carrion-eater — to the destructive peregrine 

 falcon, there is a very great variety of predatory habits, and all degrees of 

 courage to be found ; yet all these raptors are treated differently by species 

 liable to be preyed on, and have just as much respect paid them as their 

 strength and daring entitles them to, and no more. So much discrim- 

 ination seems almost incredible to those who are not familiar with the 

 manners of wild birds. I do not think it could exist if the fear shown 

 resulted from instinct or inherited habit. There would be no end to the 

 blunders of such an instinct as that; and in regions where hawks are 

 extremely abundant most of the birds would be in a constant state of 

 trepidation. On the pampas the appearance of the comparatively harm- 

 less chimango excites not the least alarm among small birds, yet at a dis- 

 tance it closely resembles a hen-harrier, and it also readily attacks young, 

 sick, and wounded birds ; all others know how little they have to fear from 



