81 FALCONID.E. 



invariably singled them out for attack. A Caranclio was circling about 

 at some distance overhead, and while I stood still to watch and admire 

 my Pigeon it stooped to within twenty yards of the surface and remained 

 hovering over my head. Presently the Pigeon became alarmed and flew 

 away, whereupon the Hawk gave chase a very vain chase I imagined it 

 would prove. It lasted for about half a minute, the Pigeon rushing 

 wildly round in wide circles, now mounting aloft and now plunging 

 downwards close to the surf ace, the Carancho hotly following all the time. 

 At length, evidently in great terror, the hunted bird flew down, alighting 

 within a yard and a half of my feet. I stooped to take hold of it, when, 

 becoming frightened at my action, it flew straight up and was seized in 

 the talons of its pursuer close to my face and carried away. 



In the next case the bird attacked was the Spur-winged Lapwing, 

 the irreconcilable enemy of the Carancho and its bold and persistent 

 persecutor. The very sight of this Hawk rouses the Lapwings to a 

 frenzy of excitement, and springing aloft they hasten to meet it in mid- 

 air, screaming loudly, and continue to harry it until it leaves their 

 ground, after which they return, and, ranged in triplets, perform their 

 triumphal dances, accompanied with loud drumming notes. But if 

 .their hated foe alights on the ground, or on some elevation near them, 

 they hover about him, and first one, then another, rushes down with the 

 greatest violence, and gliding near him turns the bend of its wing so 

 that the spur appears almost to graze his head. While one bird is 

 descending, others are rising upwards to renew their charges ; and this 

 persecution continues until they drive him away, or become exhausted 

 with their fruitless efforts. The Carancho, however, takes little notice 

 of his tormentors ; only when the Plover comes very close, evidently 

 bent on piercing his skull with its sharp weapon, he quickly dodges his 

 head, after which he resumes his indifferent demeanour until the rush 

 of the succeeding bird takes place. 



While out riding one day a Carancho flew past me attended by about 

 thirty Lapwings, combined to hunt him from their ground, for it was 

 near the breeding-season, when their jealous irascible temper is most 

 excited. All at once, just as a Lapwing swept close by and then passed 

 on before it, the Hawk quickened its flight in the most wonderful 

 manner and was seen in hot pursuit of its tormentor. The angry 

 hectoring cries of the Lapwings instantly changed to piercing screams 

 of terror, which in a very short time brought a crowd numbering 

 between two and three hundred birds to the rescue. Now, I thought, 

 the hunted bird will escape, for it twisted and turned rapidly about, 

 trying to lose itself amongst its fellows, all hovering in a compact cloud 

 about it and screaming their loudest. But the Carancho was not to be 



