BIRDS OF PREY 



(362) Polyborus cheriway 



(Jacqmn) (Gr., very voracious). 



AUDUBON'S CARACARA. Bill 

 long, high and compressed. Chin 

 and face unfeathered but covered 

 wilh br'iSlles. Head crested. Tarsus 

 long iiud unfeathered. Feet and 

 claws large, the latter nearly straight. 

 Ads. — Plumage as shown; cliiefly 

 blackish-brown and white, with a 

 tinge of }ellowish on the nape. Ini. 

 — More brownish and the markings 

 in streaks rather than bars. L., 

 23.00; Kx., 48.00; W., 15.50; T., 

 9.00; Tar., 3.00. Nest — A bulky 

 pile of slicks and weeds in bushes 

 or low trees; two or tliree whitish 

 eggs, so heavily blotched and clouded 

 with brownish as to obscure the 

 ground color, 2.50x1.80. 



Range — Fla., Tex. and Ariz, south- 

 ward. 



field mice; it seems to be very unusual for them to kill birds 

 of any kind. Such valualjle birds should be encouraged 

 by husbandmen to remain on their premises, and they will 

 do so if branches containing suitable cavities are not trimmed 

 from all trees. 



They are quite noisy in spring, the male often chasing 

 his mate, both loudly uttering their familiar high-pitched 

 "killy, kill}-, killy, " etc. Their four or five pretty eggs are 

 usually deposited at the bottoms of cavities in trees, most 

 frec|uently in deserted Flicker nests; no lining is used if the 

 bottom of the cavity is suited to receive the eggs. In some 

 sections of the west they are reported as nesting in old Mag- 

 pie homes. 



AUDUBON'S CARACARAS are resident in the southern 

 portions of Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Although com- 

 monly found in the neighborhood of houses or farms, they 

 are at nearly all times shy and difficult to approach. Their 

 habits are in many respects like those of the vultures, for 

 they devour cjuantities of carrion. Near the coasts, they 



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