40 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in. 



which I have observed to take its stand for the purpose of singing. 

 The song may be compared to that of the Sedge warbler, but is more 

 powerful ; some harsh notes and some very high ones, being mingled 

 with a pleasant warbling. It is heard only during the spring. At 

 other times its cry is harsh and far from harmonious. Near Maldonado 

 these birds were tame and bold; they constantly attended the country 

 houses in numbers, to pick the meat which was hung up on the posts 

 or walls : if any other small bird joined the feast, the Calandria soon 

 chased it away. On the wide uninhabited plains of Patagonia another 

 closely allied species, O. Patagonica of d'Orbigny, which frequents the 

 valleys clothed with spiny bushes, is a wilder bird, and has a slightly 

 different tone of voice. It appears to me a curious circumstance, as 

 showing the fine shades of difference in habits, that judging from this 

 latter respect alone, when I first saw this second species, I thought 

 it was different from the Maldonado kind. Having afterwards pro- 

 cured a specimen, and comparing the two without particular care, 

 they appeared so very similar that I changed my opinion ; but now 

 Mr. Gould says that they are certainly distinct; a conclusion in 

 conformity with the trifling difference of habit, of which, however, 

 he was not aware. 



The number, lameness, and disgusting habits of the carrion-feeding 

 hawks of South America make them pre-eminently striking to any 

 one accustomed only to the birds of Northern Europe. In this list 

 may be included four species of the Caracara or Polyborus, the Turkey 

 buzzard, the Gallinazo, and the Condor. The Caracaras are, from 

 their structure, placed among the eagles ; we shall soon see how ill 

 they become so high a rank. In their habits they well supply the 

 place of our carrion-crows, magpies, and ravens ; a tribe of birds 

 widely distributed over the rest of the world, but entirely absent in 

 South America. To begin with the Polyborus Brasiliensis : this is 

 a common bird, and has a wide geographical range; it is most numerous 

 on the grassy savannahs of La Plata (where it goes by the name of 

 Carrancha), and is far from unfrequent throughout the sterile plains 

 of Patagonia. In the desert between the rivers Negro and Colorado, 

 numbers constantly attend the line of road to devour the carcasses of 

 the exhausted animals which chance to perish from fatigue and thirst 

 Although thus common in these dry and open countries, and likewise 

 on the arid shores of the Pacific, it is nevertheless found inhabiting the 

 damp impervious forests of West Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The 

 Carranchas, together with the Chimango, constantly attend in numbers 

 the estancias and slaughtering-houses. If an animal dies on the plain 

 the Gallinazo commences the feast, and then the two species of 

 Polyborus pick the bones clean. These birds, although thus commonly 

 feeding together, are far from being friends. When the Carrancha is 

 quietly seated on the b'ranch of a tree or on the ground, the Chimango 

 often continues for a long time flying backwards and forwards, up and 

 down, in a semicircle, trying each time at the bottom of the curve to 

 strike its larger relative. The Carrancha takes little notice, except by 

 bobbing its head. Although the Carranchas frequently assemble in 



