76 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



cold, sterile country, where prey is scarce, the Ca- 

 rancho is altogether out of place ; for it there has to 

 compete with Eagles and Vultures in large numbers ; 

 and these, it is almost needless to say, are, in their 

 separate lines, stronger than the composite and less 

 specialised Carancho. In Patagonia he is truly a 

 " miserable bird," with a very frail hold on existence. 

 How different on that illimitable grassy ocean farther 

 north, where he is the lord of the feathered race, 

 for Eagles and Vultures, that require mountains 

 and trees to breed and roost on, do not come there 

 to set him aside ; there the conditions are suited to 

 him and have served to develop in him a wonderfully 

 bold and savage spirit* When seen perched on a 

 conical ant-hill, standing erect above the tall plumy 

 grass, he has a fine, even a noble appearance ; but 

 when flying he is not handsome, the wings being 

 very bluntly rounded at the extremities and the 

 flight low and ungraceful. The plumage is blackish 

 in the adult, brown in the young. The sides of the 

 head and breast are creamy white, the latter trans- 

 versely marked with black spots. The crown is 

 adorned with a crest or top-knot. The beak is much 

 larger than in Eagles and Vultures, and of a dull 

 blue colour ; the cere and legs are bright yellow. 



The species ranges throughout South America, 

 and from Paraguay northwards is called every- 

 where, I believe, Caracara. South of Paraguay the 

 Spanish name is Carancho, possibly a corruption of 

 Keanche, the Puelche name for the allied Milvago 

 chimango, in imitation of its peevish cry. The 



