MILVAGO CHIMANGO. 75 



a sort of poor relation and hanger on of a family already looked upon 

 as bankrupt and disreputable. Despite this evil reputation, few species 

 are more deserving of careful study ; for throughout an extensive portion 

 of South America it is the commonest bird we know ; and when we 

 consider how closely connected are the lives of all living creatures by 

 means of their interlacing relations, so that the predominance of any one 

 kind, however innocuous, necessarily causes the modification, or extinc- 

 tion even, of surrounding species, we are better able to appreciate the 

 importance of this despised fowl in the natural polity. Add to this its 

 protean habits, and then, however poor a creature our bird may seem, 

 and deserving of strange-sounding epithets from an ethical point of 

 view, I do not know where the naturalist will find a more interesting 

 one. 



The Chimango has not an engaging appearance. In size and 

 figure it much resembles the Hen-harrier, and the plumage is uniformly 

 of a light sandy brown colour ; the shanks are slender, claws weak, 

 and beak so slightly hooked that it seems like the merest apology of the 

 Falcon's tearing weapon. It has an easy loitering flight, and when on 

 the wing does not appear to have an object in view, like the Hawk, but 

 wanders and prowls about here and there, and when it spies another 

 bird it flies after him to see if he has food in his eye. When one finds 

 something to eat the others try to deprive him of it, pursuing him with 

 great determination all over the place ; if the foremost pursuer flags, a 

 fresh bird takes its place, until the object of so much contention 

 perhaps after all only a bit of skin or bone is dropped to the ground, 

 to be instantly snatched up by some bird in the tail of the chase; and 

 he- in turn becomes the pursued of all the others. This continues till 

 one grows tired and leaves off watching them without seeing the result. 

 They are loquacious and sociable, frequently congregating in loose 

 companies of thirty or forty individuals, when they spend several hours 

 every day in spirited exercises, soaring about like Martins, performing 

 endless evolutions, and joining in aerial mock battles. When tired of 

 these pastimes they all settle down again, to remain for an hour or so 

 perched on the topmost boughs of trees or other elevations ; and at 

 intervals one bird utters a very long leisurely chant, with a falling 

 inflection, followed by a series of short notes, all the other birds joining 

 in chorus and uttering short notes in time with those of their soloist or 

 precentor. The nest is built on trees or rushes in swamps, or on the 

 ground amongst grass and thistles. The eggs are three or four in 

 number, nearly spherical, blotched with deep red on a white or creamy 

 ground ; sometimes the whole egg is marbled with red ; but there are 

 endless varieties. It is easy to find the nest, and becomes easier when 



