Mr. H. E. Dresser o?i the Birds of Southern Texas, 329 



PoLYBORUs THARUS (Molina). Caracara-Eaglc. 



This bird, which is also known under the names of Mexican 

 Eagle and Dominica Buzzard, is abundant from the Rio Grande 

 to the Eio Guadaloupe ; but further east I never noticed any. It 

 consorts altogether with the Vultures, feeding on carrion, and 

 walking about with ease, but is not often seen in such numbers 

 as they are. Near San Antonio they are abundant, and in De- 

 cember 1863 I counted upwards of tvventy of these birds toge- 

 ther, with a lot of Vultures and several Harris's Buzzai'ds, all 

 busy with the offal near the slaughter-house. It breeds all over 

 the country, building a large, bulky nest of sticks, lined with 

 small roots and grass, generally placed in a low mezquite or oak 

 tree, and laying three or four roundish eggs, marked much like 

 those of the European Honey-Buzzard. I found several nests in 

 April and during May j but the rancheros told me that they find 

 eggs as late as June. East of Seguin I saw very few of these 

 birds, and, as I before said, none east of the Rio Guadaloupe. 

 When alive, this bird has the legs yellow, bill bluish, and the 

 naked space round the eye of a beautiful rose-coloured tinge, or, 

 rather, rose-coloured tinged with carmine. The young bird has 

 the legs dull bluish-white. 



Craxirex unicinctus (Temminck). Harris's Buzzard. 



Common throughout the whole country to the Coloi'ado River, 

 after which I noticed but few. This was the only Hawk I no- 

 ticed at Matamoras during the summer. It is a heavy, sluggish 

 bird, seldom seen on the wing, and subsisting, so far as I could 

 see, entirely on carrion. All along the road from Brownsville 

 to San Antonio I noticed these birds, either perched on some tree 

 by the roadside or busy, in company with Vultures and Cara- 

 caras, regaling themselves on some offensive carrion. 



They breed in the neighbourhood of the San Antonio, Medina 

 and Attascosa Rivers, having eggs in the month of May. A nest 

 found on the 4th of May, near the Medina River, was built of 

 sticks, very slightly lined, and placed in a low hackberry-tree. 

 The eggs, four in number, were white, with a faint bluish tinge, 

 very sparingly spotted and blotched with red. Dr. Heermann 

 wished Mr. A. Newton to have them, and they were accordingly 

 reserved for that gentleman. 



