1832-3.] OAJIRION HAWKS. 53 



monly feeding together, are far from being friends. When the 

 Carrancha is quietly seated on the branch 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 bot- 

 tom of the curve to strike its larger relative. The Carrancha takes 

 little notice, except by bobbing its head. Although the Carranchas 

 frequently assemble in numbers, they are not gregarious ; for in 

 desert places they may be seen solitary, or more commonly by pairs. 

 The Carranchas are said to be very crafty, and to steal great 

 numbers of eggs. They attempt, also, together with the Chimango, 

 to pick off the scabs from the sore backs of horses and mules. The 

 poor animal, on the one hand, with its ears down and its back 

 arched ; and, on the other, the hovering bird, eyeing at the distance 

 of a yard the disgusting morsel, form a picture, which has been 

 described by Captain Head with his own peculiar spirit and ac- 

 curacy. These false eagles most rarely kill any living bird or 

 animal ; and their vulture-like, necrophagous habits are very evi- 

 dent to any one who has fallen asleep on the desolate plains of 

 Patagonia, for when he wakes, he will see, on each surrounding 

 hillock, one of these birds patiently watching him with an evil eye : 

 it is a feature in the landscape of these countries, which will be 

 recognise! by every one who has wandered over them. If a party 

 of men go out hunting with dogs and horses, they will be accom- 

 panied, during the day, by several of these attendants. After 

 feeding, the uncovered craw protrudes ; at such times, and indeed 

 generally, the Carrancha is an inactive, tame, and cowardly bird. 

 Its flight is heavy and slow, like that of an English rook. It seldom 

 soars ; but I have twice seen one at a great height gliding through 

 the air with much ease. It runs (in contradistinction to hopping), 

 but not quite so quickly as some of its congeners. At times the 

 Carrancha is noisy, but is not generally so : its cry is loud, very 

 harsh and peculiar, and may be likened to the sound of the Spanish 

 guttural g, followed by a rough double r r ; when uttering this cry 

 it elevates its head higher and higher, till at last, with its beak 

 wide open, the crown almost touches the lower part of the back. 

 This fact, which has been doubted, is quite true; I have seen them 

 several times with their heads backwards in a completely inverted 

 position. To these observations I may add, on the high authority 

 of Azara, that the Carrancha feeds on worms, shells, slugs, grass- 

 hoppers, and frogs ; that it destroys young lambs by tearing the um- 



