126 TlMEHRI. 
with brown bars at the base, and marked towards the 
top with a broad brown band giving place to a yellowish- 
white extremity. The bases of the wing feathers are 
white, and these with the white base of the tail are very 
conspicuous when the birds are on the wing. The 
nostrils are neatly circular. The young birds are very 
different in appearance, being reddish brown, spotted 
or margined with yellowish-white above, and of a 
yellowish or ochreous tint, striped, spotted or barred 
with brown, on the under side. All gradations between 
the two extremes aie met with. 
These birds are sometimes seen in the pastures on the 
cattle, which they frequent for ticks and insects, or on the 
ground or bushes where they seek out insects and small 
reptiles. Often they occur in large flocks, though the 
individuals of such groups generally perch at some dis- 
tance apart. 
The fourth and most typical of the caracaras, Poly- 
borus cheriway, will readily be distinguished from the 
three preceding forms by its oval, not round, nostrils. 
The head is large, and the beak large and thick, the red 
featherless tracts of the face being large and very con- 
spicuous. The prevailing colour is a deep brown-black, 
the neck and shoulders being barred with whitish yel- 
low-brown. The wings and tail are white at the base, 
closely barred with brown-black, becoming black at the 
extremities ; the under sides are brownish-yellow, the 
breast being black, passing above and below into black 
bars. In the young birds, as described, the black tints 
are represented by brown, and the yellow by white. 
These birds are not met with on the coast, being con- 
fined to the savannah and more open tracts of the 
