Vol. XX 

 >903 



Clark, Habits of Certain Venezuelan Birds. 2oy 



height above the surface of the sea. My attention was drawn to 

 it from the fact that the few White Boobies (? Sula piscatorN\€'\\.^ 

 seen seemed to come from that direction. An examination of this 

 rock in early spring might yield interesting results in regard to 

 the breeding of many of the sea-birds of this region. 



A bird which claims our attention from its great abundance 

 and large size, is the Black Vulture {Catharista uriibu Vieill.). 

 You are almost never out of sight of one, while they congregate 

 by thousands about the cities, soaring overhead, or perched on 

 the house-tops. The poorer quarter of Caracas is a favorite 

 rendezvous for these birds, attracted thither, doubtless, by the 

 unrivaled assortment of foul odors to be found there, as well as 

 by the prospects of rich and bounteous repasts. Near Carlipano 

 they were strangely scarce, due to the generally clean and whole- 

 some condition of the town. On Margarita they were quite 

 common, soaring about over the hillsides, generally keeping near 

 the ground, and collecting by the score on the beaches to feed on 

 the dead dogs which were continually floating in, as a result of a 

 war of extermination made on canines during my visit. They are 

 quarrelsome birds, using both claws and beak on an adversary ; 

 and I once saw one fatally hurt by others in a fight over the eyes 

 of a dog which had just washed up on the beach near Porlamar. 

 In the town of Port-of-Spain, on the English island of Trinidad, 

 where ' corbeaus ' are strictly protected by law, they are espe- 

 cially abundant, and may be seen at all times, walking about the 

 streets, as tame as are English Sparrows in our cities. In fact, 

 so highiy do the people of Trinidad esteem the vultures as 

 scavengers, that many crimes which are regarded as serious in 

 our ideas of justice are punished less severely than the killing or 

 injuring of one of these birds. In Port-of-Spain it is a common 

 sight to see a vulture with one of its feet crippled from having 

 been stepped on or run over while engaged in a contest with 

 others over a bit of offal. 



Perhaps the most characteristic bird of the coast region of 

 Margarita, certainly the one which most surely claims the attention 

 of the traveler unused to the American tropics, is the Parrakeet 

 {Conurus ceruginosus Linn.). One is never out of hearing of their 

 incessant noise while near the coast, and little flocks of a dozerf 



