250 
DIURNAL BIRDS OF PRE K 
hawks, Darwin states that chimangos may often be seen in company with caranchas, 
although the two are by no means friends. “ When the carancha is quietly seated 
on the branch of a tree or on the ground, the chimango often continues for a long 
time flying backwards and forwards, up and down, in a semicircle, trying each 
time at the bottom of the curve to strike its larger relative. The carancha takes 
little notice, except by bobbing its head.” Of the Falkland Island species he 
observes that “ these birds in many respects resemble the caranchas. They live on 
the flesh of dead animals and on marine productions; and on the Ramirez rocks 
their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. They are extraordinarily tame 
and fearless, and haunt the neighbourhood of houses for offal. If a hunting-party 
kills an animal, a number soon collect and patiently await, standing on the ground 
on all sides. After eating, their uncovered craws are largely protruded, giving 
them a disgusting appearance. They readily attack wounded birds; a cormorant 
in this state having taken to the shore, was immediately seized on by several, and 
its death hastened by their blows.” He adds that, like the caranchas, several of 
these birds will sometimes “ wait at the mouth of a rabbit-hole, and together seize 
on the animal when it comes out.” In addition to being exceedingly mischievous, 
these caracaras are “ quarrelsome and very passionate, tearing up the grass with 
their bills from rage. They are not truly gregarious; they do not soar, and their 
flight is heavy and clumsy; on the ground they run extremely fast, very much like 
pheasants. They are noisy, uttering several harsh cries, one of which is exceed¬ 
ingly like that of the English rook ; hence the sealers always call them rooks. It 
is a curious circumstance that, when crying out, they throw their heads upwards 
and backwards, after the same manner as the carancha. They build in the rocky 
cliffs of the sea-coast, but only on the small adjoining islets, and not on the two 
main islands; this is a singular precaution in so tame and fearless a bird.” In the 
North American species of Polyborus the eggs are generally two or three in 
number, and have a pale ground-colour, almost concealed by dark blotchings. 
The Vultures. 
Family V ULTURIDjE. 
As a matter of convenience it is found advisable to separate the true or Old World 
vultures from the hawk family, although it is difficult to draw any well-marked 
line of distinction between the two groups, which are intimately connected by the 
lammergeiers. All the vultures are, however, birds of large size; and, with the 
exception of the lammergeiers, characterised by the head and neck being more or 
less bare, or clothed only with short stubbly down, true feathers being absent from 
the crown of the head. The males are as large or larger than the females. In all, 
the beak is rather long, compressed, and straight for some distance from its base, 
after which it is sharply bent down; its upper mandible may be sinuated, but is 
never toothed. The cere is very large; and the metatarsus, which is generally 
naked, is comparatively short, stout, and covered with small reticulated scales. The 
toes have rather long and slightly curved claws ; the third toe being always long and 
the first short, while the third and fourth are joined at their bases by a membrane. 
