FALSE EAGLES. 241 



it watches the line of road to devour the carcases of 

 exhausted animals. It is most numerous on the grassy 

 savannahs of La Plata, but also frequents the sterile 

 plains of Patagonia, and although these false eagles rarely 

 kill their prey, any one who falls asleep on the plains 

 will see on awaking that he has been watched with evil eye 

 by a Caracara perched on each hillock near him. Like 

 the Gallinazo, it is to a certain .extent domesticated, and 

 constantly attends the slaughter-houses, while several will 

 accompany a hunting-party. 



The other species of Caracara, called Chimango, is 

 much smaller, and is generally the last to leave a skeleton, 

 and may often be seen, like a bird in a cage, running about 

 within the ribs of a cow or horse. It is extraordinarily tame 

 and fearless, haunts the neighbourhood of houses for offal, 

 and if a hunting-party kills an animal, it soon assembles 

 in numbers, standing on the ground on all sides and 

 waiting patiently until its turn comes. It will readily at- 

 tack wounded birds, and several together will even seize a 

 cormorant. 



It is a mischievous and very inquisitive bird, and Mr. 

 Darwin mentions that it would not only tear the leather 

 from the rigging and carry off meat or game hung up in the 

 stern of the vessel, but would also pick up almost anything 

 from the ground, and on one occasion carried a large black 

 glazed hat nearly a mile, and on another took away a small 

 compass in a red morocco case, which was never recovered. 

 All the carrion-birds are commonly protected in tropical 

 America, and so also in the eastern hemisphere is the 

 Arabian kite, which haunts human habitations and pays a 

 Q 



