80 Zoologica: N. Y. Zoological Society. [I; 3 



eral appearance of a turkey buzzard while the size of a crow. 

 They were feeding on armored fish (Callicthys) which now and 

 then leaped out of the small pools of water and died on the pitch. 

 In the stomach of the male I secured was a skeleton of one of 

 these fish. 



Although vulturine in appearance and habit, these carrion 

 hawks have not lost the power of grasping and can carry food 

 to a branch where they hold it down and pick it apart at leisure. 

 These birds are extremely tame and one sat unconcerned while a 

 puffing little engine pulling a load of pitch passed within twenty 

 feet. I heard these birds calling from the depths of the man- 

 groves while drifting up the Cano Guanoco. 



Heterospizias meridionalis (Lath.). Red-winged Hawk. 



One of these small hawks hunted systematically over a small 

 area of forest and an Indian's clearing near the railroad track. 

 We saw it first on April 7th. 



Rupornis magnirostris (Gmel.). Large-billed Hawk. 



A single individual was often seen at La Brea, very tame, 

 coming within fifty feet and circling about uttering a harsh 

 scream. 



Busarellus nigricollis (Lath.) . Cream-headed Hawk. 



From time to. time as we drifted through the caiios we saw 

 these birds perched on the mangroves. They were on the look- 

 out for crabs, which they seemed expert in snatching from the 

 mangrove roots. The lower surface of the hind toe is covered 

 with long, sharp-pointed horny spicules which must be of great 

 assistance in seizing either crustaceans or fish. On April 10th 

 one of these birds was seen near La Brea. 



They are beautiful hawks, almost as large as a red-tailed 

 Buteo, with the head and neck creamy buff and the body bright 

 rufous. From a long distance their pale heads and red plumage 

 stand out sharply against the dark green of the mangroves. 



Urubitinga urubitinga (Gmel.). South American Black 



Hawk. 



One of these birds perched for several hours in the top of a 

 tall dead tree near our house at Guanoco, and early next morning 

 it was in the same place, soon shooting swiftly away toward the 

 high land to the west. 



