152 TlMEHRI. 
do not hesitate to seize and tear to pieces for food 
the more sluggish species, such as the " old witches'* 
or Ani cuckoos (Crotophaga ani)> which, from thei r slow 
and awkward flight, are more frequently caught than 
other forms. 
As in the case of the harriers, these birds will not in- 
frequently be found holding some living bird in their 
tajons and tearing it to pieces, while the air resounds with 
the despairing cry of the vi6lim. Not much more than 
a year ago while collecting on the Abary creek, our com- 
pany was suddenly startled, nearly at sundown, by the 
most unearthly sounds it had been my lot till then to hear, 
and which were at once, by the more superstitious of the 
black crew, put down to something out of the ordinary 
course of human experience. Shortly after, a sudden 
bend of the creek brought us in sight of one of 
these hawks, perched on a high branch, and holding in its 
talons and voraciously tearing, one of the large " old 
witches" (Crotophaga major) , which meantime wasfilling 
the air with its piercing death shrieks. Wounded birds are 
sometimes thus seized and carried off, even though the 
sportsman may be standing within a few yards of the 
place where the bird has fallen or is struggling. A few 
months ago, it was my experience to witness the carrying 
off by one of these birds, of a yellow-backed hang-nest 
(Cassicus persicus) which had been shot, and had been 
caught in the creepers about a by no means high tree, 
into which it fell, while it struggled in its death 
throes. The hawk, sitting unseen in some tree close 
by, had evidently observed the fall of the bird, and 
hearing its cries and struggles, had seized the oppor- 
tunity of an easy meal. It darted suddenly into 
