r .,!»; 



■'^^'-Ay, ^ i_^ 



THE BRASILTAN CARACARA EAGLE. 



PoLYDOliL'S VILGARIS. VlFUX. 



This handsome bird of prey forms the type of a new 

 genus estabhshed by M. Vieillot, and regarded by him 

 and most systematic writers as one of the connecting 

 Hnks between the Eagle and the Vulture tribes. Its 

 resemblance to the latter depends chiefly on the partial 

 nakedness of its head, the prominence of its crop, and 

 the position of its eyes on a level, or nearly so, with 

 the general surface. But it bears a much closer relation 

 to the former in almost every other point of its general 

 structure, as well as in its habits and mode of life ; and 

 for this reason we cannot hesitate in assigning it to the 

 same tribe with the Eagles, admitting at the same time, 

 with M. Temminck, that in some of its propensities it 

 exhibits a curious analogy with the oumivorous tribes 

 of Insessorial birds. 



