701 



FALCONtD/K 



FALCONID.E. 



7?2 



species as the most complete. After giving the generic characters, 

 and observing that the wings nearly equal the tail in length, that 

 they are of a rounded form with the third and fourth quills longest ; 

 that the legs are rather long, naked, and reticulated, and the claws 

 of model-ate length and curvature, but with little acuteness or power 

 of grasping, the last-named author thus proceeds : " In the Brazilian 

 Caracara the whole upper surface of the head is black, with the 

 feathers slightly elongated backwards, and capable of beiug partially 

 elevated in the shape of a pointed crest. The entire neck is of a 

 light brownish-gray, which also forms the ground colour on the breast 

 and shoulders, but with the addition on these parts of numerous 

 transverse wavy bars of a deeper brown. Nearly all the rest of the 

 plumage is of a tolerably uniform shade of blackish-brown, with 

 the exception of the tail, which is at the base of a dirty white, with 

 numerous narrow transverse undulated bands of a dusky hue, and, 

 in ita terminal third, black without any appearance of banding. 

 The beak is horn-coloured at the tip and bluish at the base ; the iris 

 hazel ; the cere and naked cheeks of a dull red ; the legs yellow, and 

 the claws black. Such at least are the colours of the living specimen 

 in the Society's garden. Several changes however take place in the 

 plumage of the bird as it advances in age, and these are well 

 illustrated by an extensive series of specimens in the Museum in 

 Bruton-street," now in the Gardens, Regent's Park, " So great in 

 fact is the variation of colours in this species that scarcely any two 

 descriptions of it correspond throughout, and the figures by which 

 it has been illustrated differ from each other even more remarkably 

 than the descriptions by which they are accompanied." ('Gardens 

 and Menagerie of the Zoological Society.') 



' > t*r 



"J 



Held and foot of the Brazilian Caracara Eagle (Folybonu Sraiilieiait). 



The same author observes that Marcgrave was the first to introduce 

 into^ Europe the name of Caracara, the vulgar appellation of the bird 

 in Brazil, derived from its hoarse and peculiar cry. But although 

 M. Cuvier regards Marcgrave's Caracara as identical with the species 

 described by Mr. Bennett, the latter remarks that both the figure and 

 description are so much at variauce with it that he feels himself 

 compelled to adopt in preference the opinion of Professor Lichten- 

 stein, founded upon the original drawing, that they belong to a totally 

 different bird. Mr. Bennett is consequently unable to trace the history 

 of the true Caracara beyond the year 1784, when a figure and 

 description were published at Vienna by the younger Jacquin, from 

 his father's papers, under the name of Falco Cheriway. These Mr. 

 Bennett has no hesitation in referring to the present species. The 

 principal differences between them consist, he states, in the markings 

 on the breast and neck, which in the figure are more longitudinal 

 than transverse ; and in the very awkward foreshortening of the 

 beak, which completely distorts its natural form. The former appears, 



from the specimens in the Society's Museum, to be one of the 

 distinctive marks of the young bird. Cuvier, in the last edition of 

 the ' Regue Animal,' observes that the Falco Cheriway of Jacquin 

 may be nothing but a variety of age. Mr. Bennett then notices the 

 very complete description of the adult Caracara in D'Azara. According 

 to this author, the full-grown bird measures 21^ inches in length and 

 50 in the expanse of the wings. Its colours agree with the description 

 above given, excepting that the first six quill-feathers of the wings 

 are white, marked with rays and spots of brown, and become blackish 

 towards the point ; the back is transversely rayed with brown and 

 white, the latter predominating on its upper half, and vice versa ; 

 the fore part of the neck and breaat are traversed by dusky lines 

 mixed with a larger proportion of white; the cere is of an orange 

 hue ; and the throat and sides of the head are almost white. This 

 description, Mr. Bennett remarks, very nearly coiucides with that of 

 M. Cuvier, taken from specimens in the Paris Museum, and with the 

 figure of one of these specimens giveu by M. Vieillot in his ' Galerie 

 des Oiseaux ; ' and Mr. Bennett then refers to the figure given by M. 

 Spix in his ' Birds of Brazil,' as the young of this species, which 

 resembles M. Vieillot's in its form, except that the legs are longer 

 and thicker, and the tips of the wings reach to the extremity of the 

 tail. In colour it is rather of a darker brown, approaching more 

 nearly to the Society's specimen alluded to by Mr. Bennett ; the 

 throat is light brown instead of white ; and the transverse waves 

 of the breast and shoulders are replaced by longitudinal brown 

 dashes upon a light ground. The cere and naked cheeks are in both 

 of a bright yellow ; indeed Mr. Bennett states that he has nowhere 

 met with them of the same hue with those of the Society's living 

 specimen, except in the figure and description of Jacquin. 



The Caracara is said to live either alone or in pairs. But D'Azara 

 states that he has seen them join in companies of four or five to 

 hunt down prey which a single Caracara would find a difficulty in 

 mastering, such as red buzzards, herons, and other large birds ; and 

 it is believed that they will even destroy the American ostrich, 

 young fawns, and lambs, when so associated. In its food it seems 

 to be content with any animal substance. Carrion (for if a Caracara 

 see a vulture devour a piece of flesh he is said to pursue him and 

 compel him to disgorge it), toads, frogs, worms, snails, lizards, grubs, 

 grasshoppers, winged-ants, snakes, and flies, birds in short the 

 general prey of buzzards, hawks, falcons, and insectivorous birds all 

 suit its appetite. Two of the specimens obtained by M. Spix were 

 shot in the act of extracting insects from the hides of oxen. D'Azara 

 will not allow that the Caracara preys on the smaller birds, because, 

 he says, that it is unable to catch them ; but Prince Maximilian 

 found in the stomachs of those which he opened the remains of 

 small birds and insects, especially grasshoppers, which abound in its 

 haunts. It is by no means shy, and advances like the vultures to 

 inhabited places, perching on trees and house-tops and not caring 

 to conceal itself. It is seldom attacked, for it rarely molests domestic 

 poultry, but it is stated that it will sometimes carry off the sports- 

 man's game. The nest, according to D'Azara, is built on the tops 

 of trees, especially those round which the climbing plants are most 

 luxuriant, or* in a bushy thicket. It is large, and composed of sticks 

 and twining branches laid nearly flat, and lined, inartificially, thickly 

 with hairs. The eggs, which are laid in August, September, or 

 October, are two in number, pointed at one end, and dotted and 

 blotched with crimson on a brownish-red ground. 



This bird extends over a considerable part of South America ; the 

 island of Aruba, on the coast of Venezuela (Jacquin) ; Brazil and 

 Paraguay (Cuvier) ; most abundant in the south and east of Brazil 

 (Prince of Neuwied) ; Spix's specimens were from the northern 

 provinces ; less numerous on the Rio de la Plata than iu Paraguay, 

 where it is almost equal in number to all the other birds of prey 

 put together (D'Azara); Straits of Magalhaens (Captain Phillip 

 Parker King, R.N.). 



Mr. Bennett's provisional species Polyborus (?) (hypoleucus) was 

 founded on the Angola Vulture of Pennant, Vultur Anyolensis of 

 Ginelin, in an immature state of plumage. 



Dr. Smith proposed the genus Polyboruides for the Falco Gymnoymys 

 of Temminck in the South African Journal, in April, 1830, and 

 M. Lesson, in the November of that year, separated the same form 

 under the generic title Gymnoyenya. 



From Ibycter and Polybonts Mr. Vigors passes to the Fishing Eagles, 

 and particularises as the first 



Pandion (Savigny). Beak rounded above ; cere hispid ; nostrils 

 lunulated and meuibranaceous on the upper margin ; tarsi naked ; 

 acrotarsia covered with rigid reticulated scales ; toes free, the 

 external toes versatile ; claws equal, rounded underneath ; second 

 quill longest. 



P. llaliceetwi, the Bald Buzzard, Osprey, or Fishing Eagle; the 

 Fishing-Hawk and Fish-Hawk of the Americans ; Aquila Pescatrice 

 of the Italians ; Jfalicetus and Morphnos of Aldrovandus ; Jialku- 

 tardus Anylorum of Kay; and Falco llaliatwi of Linnams. This 

 bird appears to be widely diffused, Temminck observes, that 

 it is generally distributed through Europe, and that it abounds 

 in Russia, Germany, and Switzerland. It is also found in Egypt. 

 In the British Islands it seems to bo comparatively rare. Wil- 

 lughby records one that was shot at Peuzaueo with a mullet in 



