THE GUADALCTE CARACABA. 319 



and domestic animals. Ilo says: "It is continually on the watch, and, in spite 

 of every precaution, often snatches its prey from the very doors of the houses. 

 The destruction of the wild goats is not so great, as these animals are better 

 able to protect themselves than the tame ones. No sooner is one kid born, and 

 while the mother is yet in labor with the second, than the birds pounce upon it, 

 and should the old one be able to interfere, she is assaulted also. No kid is 

 safe from their attacks, and should a number be together, the birds unite their 

 forces, and with great noise and flapping of wings they generally manage to 

 separate the weakest one and dispatch it. * * * These birds are cruel in 

 the extreme and the torture which is sometimes inflicted upon these defense- 

 less animals is painful to witness. * * * 



"Hundreds of these birds have been destroyed by the inhabitants, both 

 with poison and firearms, without any noticeable diminution of their numbers. 

 They are said to lay three eggs, speckled like those of a Gull. When sur- 

 prised or wounded they utter a loud harsh scream, something like that of 

 the Bald Eagle. In fighting among themselves they make a curious gab- 

 bling noise, and under any special excitement the same sounds are given 

 forth, with an odd motion of the head, the neck being first stretched out 

 to its full length, and then bent backwards until the head almost rests upon 

 the back. The same odd motions are made and similar noises uttered when 

 the birds are about to make an attack upon a kid. Besides the principal 

 sources of food supply already indicated, the birds have other means of 

 subsistence ; they eat small birds, mice, shellfish, worms, and insects. To 

 procure the latter they resort to plowed fields, where they scratch the 

 ground almost like domestic fowls." 1 



Ten years later, in January, 1885, when Mr. Walter E. Bryant visited 

 the island the number of these birds had very materially decreased. At a 

 still later date, in his " Catalogue of the Birds of Lower California," pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, second 

 series, Vol. n, 1889, p. 282, Mr. Bryant states: "So effective has been the work 

 of extermination carried on against this bird that Dr. Edward Palmer, who 

 first discovered them in 1875, says that he visited the island this year 

 (1889) and did not see a single individual. He tells me that when he 

 landed fourteen years ago the ' Quelelis,' as they are known there, were so 

 numerous and bold that men were obliged to stand over the Angora goats 

 with sticks to protect them from attack, particularly the kids which were 

 not defended by their mothers. The short-haired kind will drive off the 

 birds, so Dr. Palmer says from his observations; and now that man has 

 abandoned the island, I cherish the hope that a pair at least may still be 

 living, and that some future explorer may succeed in finding the unknown 

 eggs and give us an account of the nesting habits of this peculiar species." 



Their nesting habits and eggs probably differed but little from those of 

 the allied species, Audubon's Caracara. 



1 Hayden's Survey, 1876, Bulletin No. 2, pp. 192-195. 





