182 
THE GOLDEN RIVER. 
over the world : not the same birds, of course, 
but the same in type; and they keep closer to 
type than do other families. If you have once 
got into your head the flight of a falcon or a 
buzzard or a kite or a harrier you can tell them 
apart all the world over. There are some, of 
course, peculiar to South America, such as the 
well-known scavengers, half hawk, half vulture, 
the Carancho and the Chimango. You have 
only to kill an animal or throw down any offal 
to collect a crowd of these, together with their 
vile cousin, the Black Vulture. 
What a bird lover misses in England is the 
big birds. Possibly our small birds were never 
so numerous as they are now, for their enemies 
such as weasels and hawks are extirpated, our 
immense game covers form ideal sanctuaries, 
and in many instances they and their eggs are 
protected by law. But with big birds it is 
different, especially birds of prey. How often 
do you see a buzzard or peregrine ? Have you 
ever seen an English kite, except stuffed ? Game 
preservers and egg-collectors make them rarer 
and rarer, except in the north and west. But 
in South America it is different. You can 
never look into the upper air without seeing it 
peopled by its rightful inhabitants, birds of 
prey. There they are, eagles and vultures, 
harriers and buzzards, soaring and swinging, 
heads moving from side to side, eyes fixed on 
the earth. I remember one occasion particu- 
