POLYBORUS Brazilienses 
The Caracara; or Brazilian-crested Eagle. 
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Family Falconide. 
GeNERIC CHaracTEer.—See Vicil. Orn. 3. p. 1180. 
SpeciFic CHARACTER. 
Body above and beneath, crest of the head, and end of the tail, 
blackish brown: the rest of the plumage cream colour, varied 
with spots and bands. 
Falco Brazilicnsis. Lin. Gm. 64. 
Buzard du Brézil. Buffon. 
La Caracara. Azara Voy. 3. p. 32. Vieil. Orn. 3. p. V180. 
Polyborus Vulgaris. Vieil, Gall. Pl. 7. 
In Mus. Paris. D. Taylor. 
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Tue whole extent of Tropical America, from Mexico to the 
banks of the Rio Plata, is inhabited by this majestic bird. 
it has been slightly noticed by the earlier writers, but 
nothing was known of its history, until the publication of 
the invaluable Memoirs of Azara. 
Its length is about twenty-one inches. In its habits 
there is a mixture of cowardice and daring. It will attack 
all other rapacious birds, excepting eagles, for the purpose 
of robbing them of their prey, and will often seize the game 
of the hunter, before he has time to secure it. Yet the 
Caracara is frequently driven from its haunts by the cou- 
rage of small birds; and will only attack young chickens 
when not defended by their mother. 
The birds which form the modern genera of Daptrius, 
Ibycter, Polyborus, and Milvago, present so many charac- 
ters in common, that we cannot consider them of suffi- 
cient rank to be called genera. ‘They appear to us, taken 
collectively, to form one group, in which every species 
exhibits a peculiar modification of structure, assimilating 
either to the Vultures or the Falcons. Allied both in struc- 
ture and manners to both these families, each bird may be 
considered as a strongly marked link of connexion. They 
present, in short, that interchange of characters, generally 
coniined to individual species, which Nature invariably 
exhibits at the union of her more comprehensive groups. 
