52 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in. 



far from harmonious. Near Maldouado 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, 0. Patagouica 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 procured 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, tameness, 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 Fucgo. The Carrauchas, 

 together with the Chimango, constantly attend in numbers the 

 estaucias 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 com 



