Volume Ii Part 16 (2/2)

In the love-season the male Caranchos are frequently seen fighting; and sometimes, when the battle is carried on at a great height in the air, the combatants are seen clasped together and falling swiftly towards the earth; but in all the contests I have witnessed the birds have not been so blinded with pa.s.sion as to fall the whole distance before separating.

Besides these single combats, in which unpaired or jealous males engage in the love-season, there are at all times occasional dissensions amongst them, the cause of which it would be difficult to determine.

Here again, as often in hunting, the birds combine to punish an offender, and in some cases the punishment is death.

Their cry is exceedingly loud and harsh, a short abrupt note, like _cruk_, repeated twice; after which, if the bird is violently agitated, as when wounded or fighting, it throws its head backwards until the crown rests on the back, and rocks it from side to side, accompanying the action with a prolonged piercing cry of great power. This singular gesture of the Carancho, unique among birds, seems to express very forcibly a raging spirit, or, perhaps, rage mingled with despair.

The nest is built in a variety of situations: on trees, where there are any, but on the treeless pampas, where the Carancho is most at home, it is made on the ground, sometimes among the tall gra.s.s, while a very favourite site is a small islet or mound of earth rising well out of the water. When a suitable place has been found, the birds will continue to use the same nest for many consecutive years. It is a very large slovenly structure of sticks, mixed with bones, pieces of skin, dry dung, and any portable object the bird may find to increase the bulk of his dwelling. The eggs are three or four, usually the last number, slightly oval, and varying greatly in colour and markings, some having irregular dark red blotches on a cream-coloured ground, while others are entirely of a deep brownish red, with a few black marks and blotches.

Fam. x.x.xIII. CATHARTIDae, or CONDORS

The American Vultures, or Condors as it is better to call them, are now universally admitted to be quite distinct from the rest of the Accipitres and to const.i.tute a family apart. They differ from the Falconidae in having the hind toe inserted at a higher level than the others, and in the nostrils being pervious, owing to the absence of the bony septum, besides in other important characters[2].

[2] _Cf._ Standard Nat. Hist. vol. iv., Birds, p. 266 (Boston, 1885).

The Cathartidae are few in number, only some six or seven species being accurately known. Of these, three occur within the limits of the Argentine Republic.

311. CATHARTES AURA (Linn.).

(TURKEY-VULTURE.)

+Cathartes aura+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 123; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 624 (Misiones); _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 433 (Mendoza, Catamarca, Tuc.u.man). +nops aura+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ i. p. 25. +Rhinogryphus aura+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. N. A. B._ iii. p. 344.

_Description._--Plumage black, the feathers above edged more or less with dull brown; head and neck bare, bright red in life: whole length 300 inches, wing 215, tail 115. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Temperate and Tropical America, and south to Chili and the Falkland Islands.

In Argentina the Turkey-Vulture appears only to occur in the northern and western provinces. Dr. Burmeister noticed it occasionally in Mendoza, Catamarca, and Tuc.u.man. In Misiones, White found it abundant at Concepcion. I met with it in Patagonia, but it is by no means common there, and is only seen singly or in pairs.

312. CATHARTES ATRATUS (Bartram).

(BLACK VULTURE.)

+Cathartes ftans+, _Burm. La-Plata, Reise_, ii. p. 433 (Mendoza, Tuc.u.man). +Cathartes atratus+, _Darwin, Zool. Beagle_, iii. p. 7 (Rio Negro); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 123; _Sclater, P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 536 (Rio Negro); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 113 (Pampas).

+Catharista atrata+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. N. A. B._ iii. p.

351.

_Description._--Plumage black; head bare, black: whole length 250 inches, wing 175, tail 85. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Eastern U.S., and Central and Southern America to Chili and the Rio Negro of Patagonia.

According to Dr. Burmeister the Black Vulture is found throughout the Argentine Pampas, but is commoner in the east and north. It is known as the ”_Gallinazo_” at Mendoza, and ”_Cuervo_” in Tuc.u.man. Mr. Barrows tells us that he did not see it during his residence at Concepcion, but was told of its former abundance in times of drought, when dead sheep were numerous. It was, however, met with by him in small numbers during his excursion through the Sierras of the Pampas south of Buenos Ayres.

On the Rio Negro of Patagonia I found these Vultures abundant, especially near the settlement of El Carmen, where, attracted by the refuse of the cattle-slaughtering establishments, they congregated in immense numbers, and were sometimes seen crowded together in thousands on the trees, where they roosted. Darwin observed them at the same place, and has described their soaring habits at considerable length.

The following account of the nesting-habits of this species is given by Mr. John J. Dalgleish (Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb. vi. p. 237):--”The eggs seldom, if ever, exceed two in number, and are usually laid in a hollow tree or on the ground. Their average weight is about a pound.

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