Raptores of South America. 357 



allow themselves to drop down like a ball, making a noise like the 

 whistling of an arrow flying through the air ; on approaching the 

 earth they again resume their usual flight. The vultures are in ge- 

 neral (for a few species are exceptions to I he rule) the only birds 

 which hover at a very great height above the surface of the ground. 

 Some kinds of eagles rise rather high into the air, but they continue 

 there only a short time, preferring the more temperate regions. The 

 buzzards hover in the same manner as the Falco brachydactylus, 

 without, however, traversing a considerable extent of country before 

 reposing, as they do in Europe, which is probably owing to the 

 greater facility with which they obtain their prey. The rapacious 

 birds, which in other quarters of the world are always distrustful, 

 restless, and little accustomed to live in the vicinity of man, seem 

 to shew a disposition to approach him in America. The Cathartes 

 and the Caracaras are never seen in desert places, unless they are 

 drawn thither by troops of large mammiferous animals, such as the 

 Otariae on the coast of Patagonia. These birds are become the faith- 

 ful companions of the savage tribes in their migrations, and, as has 

 been already mentioned, they are useful neighbours to the inhabi- 

 tants of towns, who in some instances have framed special laws for 

 their protection. 



The Falconidae are generally wilder ; but some of the typical spe- 

 cies take up their abodes in a house or a church, on the summit of 

 which they are seen to alight for an instant, and then dart away 

 to explore the neighbouring country, without appearing to be dis- 

 turbed by the presence of man. 



The Buzzards, and in general all the ignoble birds of Cuvier, or 

 the Aquilinse, are comparatively less sociable, always remaining at 

 a distance from inhabited places, and even flying off at the first ap- 

 proach of the enemy of all animals, from natural instinct rather than 

 any real apprehension. These birds, however, are much less fierce 

 than the European species, which can be taken only by surprise ; 

 they fly to a much smaller distance from man ; but the suspicious 

 character peculiar to all carnivorous birds continually manifests it- 

 self in all the species of this series. The nocturnal birds of prey 

 follow the same laws as those of Europe with respect to the instinct 

 which leads them to approach our species. The owls of America, 

 (that is, those constituting the modern genus Strix,) like our own, 

 live in buildings, and in the midst of towns, while all the others con- 

 ceal themselves in thickets during the day, from which they issue in 

 the night to obtain an abundant supply of food in the recesses of 

 the deserts. 



We think that we have noticed in the case of certain American 

 birds of prey, a much less striking disproportion between the size 



no. iv. a a 



