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 night. 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 Aquilinae, 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 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 
