On the Raptor es of South America. 



347 



had he been so he wouldj not have placed this fish in the family in 

 which it now stands. A new family ought to be constituted for it, in 

 as much as it differs from the Gadi in having the head covered with 

 scales, as well as in having the intestines free from cceca. 



The habits of the tadpole fish are little known, because it lives 

 in a situation where it cannot be observed, and so becomes the sub- 

 ject of examination only when it is removed out of its natural ele- 

 ment, or after the death of the animal itself. It spawns in April, 

 and feeds on small insects. 



V. — Observations on the Raptores of South America. Translated 

 from " Voyages dans l'Amerique Meridionale, par M. Alcide D. 

 D'Orbigny." 



The comparative distribution of birds of prey on the old and new 

 continents assigns to the former the vultures, properly so called, 

 and to the latter, the carunculated vultures, or Sarcoramphi. Among 

 the latter, the king of the vultures appears exclusively stationed be- 

 tween the parallels of the tropics, or passes but a short way beyond 

 them, frequenting only woody and warm situations ; while the con- 

 dor, which was held in such consideration by the ancient Incas, fre- 

 quents the regions of ice and snow, and is by no means exclusively 

 confined to the Andes, as has been hitherto supposed, but is like- 

 wise found in cold and undulated tracts, from the south of Patago- 

 nia to the line. In this last locality, it occurs successively at all 

 heights, from the level of the sea, where a suffocating heat prevails, 

 to the highest peaks of the Andes, in places where no other living 

 being can resist the rarifaction of the air. Of all known birds, the 

 condor is certainly the one that has the highest flight ; and it is 

 probably to this circumstance that it owes the rank near the sun 

 which seems to be assigned to it among the Aymaras and Incas, as 

 the being which made the nearest approach to it. The Cathartes 

 all belong to America, where they inhabit all heights and latitudes 

 (without, however, rising to the same elevation as the condor,) from 

 the frozen regions of the south pole to the equinoctial zone. They 



