Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 2



The whole extent of Tropical America, from Mexico to the banks of the Rio Plata, is inhabited by this majestic bird. It has been slightly noticed by the earlier writers, but nothing was known of its history, until the publication of the invaluable Memoirs of Azara.

Its length is about twenty-one inches. In its habits there is a mixture of cowardice and daring. It will attack all other rapacious birds, excepting eagles, for the purpose of robbing them of their prey, and will often seize the game of the hunter, before he has time to secure it. Yet the Caracara is frequently driven from its haunts by the courage of small birds; and will only attack young chickens when not defended by their mother.

The birds which form the modern genera of Daptrius, Ibycter, Polyborus, and Milvago, present so many characters in common, that we cannot consider them of sufficient rank to be called genera. They appear to us, taken collectively, to form one group, in which every species exhibits a peculiar modification of structure, assimilating either to the Vultures or the Falcons. Allied both in structure and manners to both these families, each bird may be considered as a strongly marked link of connexion. They present, in short, that interchange of characters, generally confined to individual species, which Nature invariably exhibits at the union of her more comprehensive groups.