340 BROOKLYN INSTITUTE ^^^SEL■M. SCIENCE BULLETIN 2. 6. 
Native name Zamuro. Abundant everywhere, especially about 
the towns and villages, where, walking about the streets and perched 
on the house tops, they are characteristic of every landscape. 
FALCONIDAE— THE HAWKS. 
Eighteen of the twenty-one species recorded in the Berlepsch and 
Hartert paper were collected by tlie writer on the ( innnco. Tiic other 
three species were recorded fn>ni points on the Caura River. 
PoLYBORUS cHERiw.\Y (Jacquiu). 
Falco chcrrd'ay Jacq., Beitr. 1784. p. 17. PI. 4. 
Polybonis auduboiii Berlepsch, Ibis, 1884. p. 437 (Angostura). 
Polyborns chcrkvay Berlepsch & Hartert, p. iii. 
Native name Caricari. Common. There is much variation in the 
color of the skin on the sides of the head, of the feet and of the bill. 
An adult female taken at Altagracia, January 31, had the iris cinna- 
mon ; bill plumbeous whitish at the tip ; bare skin about face pinkish 
white; feet whitish. A male, taken at Caicara July 4th, had the eye 
cinnamon ; bill plumbeous whitish along the cutting edges ; bare skin on 
face and cere grayish white : feet grayish. 
Birds of this species are usually seen in pairs. In company with 
black vultures, they occasionally feed on carrion, but more frequently 
thev are seen hunting through the grass on the savannas, where the\' 
capture small lizards and many insects. I have been told by natives 
that many snakes are killed and eaten by these birds. They show 
much intelligence in searching the sandy beaches for eggs of the com- 
mon river turtle. I have seen on many occasions a pair apparently fol- 
lowing on the trail left by a female turtle as she crawled up over the 
beach in search of a spot where she might deposit her eggs. The birds 
would often stop and scratch and probe a!)Out in the sand with the bill 
and not infrequently their search was awarded by finding the coveted 
eggs. Again I have seen a pair stationed by a nest from which young 
turtles were just emerging to fall victims to the greed of the Caracara. 
Also I have observed them hanging about a nest of the crocodile where 
young crocodiles were angrily flopping themselves free from the confin- 
ing shell and snapping viciously at anything and everything in sight. 
That the Caracara actually feeds on the young crocodile I cannot say, 
but that he is present for any disinterested purpose is extremely doubtful. 
In the neighborhood of Caicara the Caracara nests in May. The 
nest is placed in low Guaramal — scrub oak — trees that are found in 
clusters dotting the savannas. 
