COMMON CARRION HAWK 67 



small shot had lodged in the fleshy portion of the 

 breast. It was a very slight wound, yet the Chimango 

 with its trained sight had noticed something wrong 

 with the bird from the moment it flew off, apparently 

 in its tistial free, buoyant manner. 



On another occasion I was defrauded of a more 

 valuable specimen than the Tyrant-bird. It was on 

 the east coast of Patagonia, when one morning, while 

 seated on an elevation, watching the waves dashing 

 themselves on the shore, I perceived a shining white 

 object tossing about at some distance from land. 

 Successive waves brought it nearer, till at last it was 

 caught up and flung far out on to the shingle fifty 

 yards from where I sat; and instantly, before the 

 cloud of spray had vanished, a Chimango dashed 

 down upon it. I jumped up and ran down as fast as 

 I could, and found my white object to be a Penguin, 

 apparently just killed by some accident out at sea, and 

 in splendid plumage ; but alas ! in that moment the vile 

 Chimango had stripped off and devoured the skin from 

 its head, so that as a specimen it was hopelessly ruined. 



As a rule, strong healthy birds despise the Chi- 

 mango; they feed in his company; his sudden 

 appearance causes no alarm, and they do not take 

 the trouble to persecute him ; but when they have 

 eggs or young he is not to be trusted. He is not 

 easily turned from a nest he has once discovered. 

 I have seen him carry off a young Tyrant-bird 

 (Milvulus tyrannus) in the face of such an attack 

 from the parent birds that one would have imagined 

 not even a true Hawk could have withstood. 



