250 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY, 



hawks, Darwin states that chimangos may often be seen in company with caranchas, 

 although the two are by no means friends. " When the carancha 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 bottom of the curve to strike its larger relative. The carancha takes 

 little notice, except by bobbing its head." Of the Falkland Island species he 

 observes that " these birds in many respects resemble the caranchas. They live on 

 the flesh of dead animals and on marine productions ; and on the Ramirez rocks 

 their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. They are extraordinarily tame 

 and fearless, and haunt the neighbourhood of houses for off*al. If a hunting-party 

 kills an animal, a number soon collect and patiently await, standing on the ground 

 on all sides. After eating, their uncovered craws are largely protruded, giving 

 them a disgusting appearance. They readily attack wounded birds ; a cormorant 

 in this state having taken to the shore, was immediately seized on by several, and 

 its death hastened by their blows." He adds that, like the caranchas, several of 

 these birds will sometimes " wait at the mouth of a rabbit-hole, and together seize 

 on the animal when it comes out." In addition to being exceedingly mischievous, 

 these caracaras are " quarrelsome and very passionate, tearing up the grass with 

 their bills from rage. They are not truly gregarious ; they do not soar, and their 

 flight is heavy and clumsy ; on the ground they run extremely fast, very much like 

 pheasants. They are noisy, uttering several harsh cries, one of which is exceed- 

 ingly like that of the English rook ; hence the sealers always call them rooks. It 

 is a curious circumstance that, when crying out, they throw their heads upwards 

 and backwards, after the same manner as the carancha. They build in the rocky 

 cliff's of the sea-coast, but only on the small adjoining islets, and not on the two 

 main islands ; this is a singular precaution in so tame and fearless a bird." In the 

 North American species of Polyhoriis the eggs are generally two or three in 

 number, and have a pale ground-colour, almost concealed by dark blotchings. 



The Vultures. 



Family VulturiDjE. 



As a matter of convenience it is found advisal^le to separate the true or Old World 

 vultures from the hawk famil}', although it is difficult to draw any well-marked 

 line of distinction between the two groups, which are intimately connected by the 

 lammergeiers. All the vultures are, however, birds of large size ; and, with the 

 exception of the lammergeiers, characterised by the head and neck being more or 

 less bare, or clothed only with short stubbly down, true feathers being absent from 

 the crown of the head. The males are as large or larger than the females. In all, 

 the beak is rather long, compressed, and straight for some distance from its base, 

 after which it is sharply bent down ; its upper mandible may be sinuated, but is 

 never toothed. The cere is very large ; and the metatarsus, which is generally 

 naked, is comparatively short, stout, and covered with small reticulated scales. The 

 toes have rather long and slightly curved claws : the third toe being always long and 

 the first short, while the third and fourth ai-e joined at their bases by a membrane. 



