Size smaller than the preceding; bill long, compressed, wide laterally;
cere large; wings long, pointed; tail moderate, or rather long; tarsi
long, rather slender, covered in front with large hexagonal and
irregular scales, and laterally and horizontally with smaller; claws
long, slightly curved, rather weak; space in front of and below the eye
naked. Two species only form this genus, both of which are abundant
birds of South and Central America.
1. Polyborus tharus. (Molina.) The Caracara Eagle. The Mexican Eagle.
Falco tharus. Molina, Sagg. Stor. Nat. del Chili. (1782.)
Falco cheriway. Jacquin, Beytr. Gesch. der Vogel, p. 17. (1784.)
Falco brasiliensis. Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I. p. 262. (1788.)
Falco plancus. Miller, Cimelia Physica.
Polyborus vulgaris. Vieill., Nouv. Dict., V. p. 257. (1816.)
Jacq. Vog., pl. 4; Miller & Shaw, Cim. Phys., 2d ed., pl. 17; Vieill.,
Gal., I. pl. 7; Spix., B. of Bras., I. pl. 1, _a_; Aud., B. of Am.,
pl. 161; oct. ed., I. pl. 4; Swains. Zool. Ill., I. pl. 2; Gay’s Chili
Orn., pl. 1.
Legs long; occipital feathers somewhat elongated. Adult. Head above,
back, rump, wings, broad abdominal belt and tibiæ brownish-black; neck
before and behind, sides of the head behind the eye, breast, upper and
under tail-coverts yellowish-white; on the breast and neck behind
finely barred transversely with black; tail for about two-thirds of
its length white, with numerous narrow bars of black, and widely
tipped with black; bill at base bluish; tip yellowish-white; tarsi and
toes yellow. Younger. Head above dark-brown; other upper parts
pale-brown, with paler edgings to many feathers; under-parts
dark-brown, nearly all the feathers having longitudinal central
stripes of dull white; throat yellowish-white; tail for the greater
part and its coverts above and below white, with numerous transverse
bands of pale ashy-brown, and tipped with brownish-black.
Dimensions. _Female_—total length (of skin), about 26 inches; wing,
17; tail, 10 inches. _Male_—larger?
Hab. Southern North America; Florida (Audubon); Texas; Mexico
(McCall). Abundant in South America. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. The Caracara Eagle has been observed in Florida, and is an
inhabitant also of Texas and Mexico. It walks on the ground with
facility, and otherwise resembles the Vultures in its habits; and, like
them, lives on dead animals for the greater part. The original edition
of Molina, in which a scientific name is given to this bird for the
first time since the adoption of the binomial nomenclature, we have not
seen; but in his second edition, Preface, p. 1 (Bologna, 1810), it is
stated to have been published in 1782. His name undoubtedly has
priority.
We are inclined to the opinion that this bird, and several more or less
nearly allied species of South America, belong properly to the family of
Vultures;—of all the habits of which they partake. This opinion is
supported somewhat by Molina’s statement, that of the present species
the female is the smaller (2d ed., p. 221), as Humboldt and others have
observed of the Condor, and as appears to be the case in the family of
Vultures, but not in that of the Falcons.
V. GENUS MORPHNUS. Cuvier, Regne. Animal, I. p. 317. (1817.)
URUBITINGA. Less., Rev. Zool., 1839, p. 132.
SPIZOGERANUS. Kaup, Class., p. 120. (1844.)
Size medium; bill rather long, abruptly curved at the tip, which is
acute; edges of upper mandible festooned; wings and tail long; legs
long; tarsi and toes strong, the former with wide transverse scales in
front; claws strong. A genus of American species, inhabiting the
southern portion of the continent.
1. Morphnus unicinctus. (Temm.) Harris’ Buzzard.
Falco unicinctus. Temm., Pl. col., I. p. (no page—livraison 53,
about 1827.)
“Falco anthracinus. Licht.” Gray, Genera, I. p. 27.
Buteo Harrisii. Aud., Orn. Biog., V. p. 30. (1839.)
Polyborus tæniurus. Tschudy, Wiegm. Archiv., X. p. 263. (1844.)
Temm., Pl. col., 313; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 392: oct. ed., I. pl. 5;
Tschudy, Fauna Peruana Orn., pl. 1.
Legs long, and with the feet robust; wings rather short; tail long.
Adult. Shoulders, wing-coverts and tibia chestnut-red or bay; other
parts very dark umber-brown; upper and under tail-coverts white; tail
white at its base, and tipped with white; middle portion presenting
the appearance of a very wide band, dark brownish-black, with a
reddish or violet tinge. Younger. Upper-parts umber-brown, much mixed
with fulvous; shoulders chestnut-red, with dark-brown spots; quills
dark-brown; secondaries tipped with yellowish-white; entire
under-parts yellowish-white, many feathers on the breast, sides and
abdomen, with large oblong and circular spots of brown; tibiæ
yellowish-white, with transverse irregular lines of light
brownish-red; upper and under tail-coverts white; tail brown, with
many bands of a deeper shade of the same color, and with the
inner-webs yellowish and reddish-white, and having many narrow bands
of dark-brown; base and tip of the tail yellowish-white.
Dimensions. _Female_—total length, 22 to 24 inches; wing, 15; tail, 10
inches. _Young male_—total length, 20 inches; wing, 13; tail, 9½
inches.
Hab. Southern States; Mexico, abundant; Texas, frequent (Col. McCall);
Mississippi, rare (Dr. Jenkins); Peru; Chili (Lieut. Gilliss); Chili,
abundant (Gay, Fauna Chilena). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. Col. McCall, who has seen this bird in large numbers in Texas,
represents it as habitually frequenting the ground in the vicinity of
water, and especially abundant on both sides of the Rio Grande. It is
slow and heavy in flight, and a dull, sluggish bird in all its habits,
partaking in these respects of the general characters of the Vultures.
The affinities of this species we regard at present as uncertain, and
arrange it provisionally only in the present genus and sub-family, but
by no means agreeing in our views with late European ornithologists.
The foregoing are all the birds of this family which can be regarded as
well-established species inhabiting that portion of North America,
within our prescribed limits.
Respecting their history, one of the most important questions to the
naturalist is, the change of plumage from young to mature age, and
another change which takes place in assuming their spring or summer and
their winter liveries. The latter change is by no means well understood
in many species, and to ascertain it completely in any one would yet be
an interesting contribution to its history.
A few species are known only as of exceedingly rare occurrence in the
United States, but the larger number are sufficiently numerous to be
investigated without difficulty. Of the former, the Washington Eagle
(_Haliaetus Washingtonii_), Harlan’s Buzzard (_Buteo Harlani_), the
Black Hawk, the Rough-legged Hawk (_Archibuteo sancti-johannis_ and
_lagopus_,) and nearly all the Western species, may be regarded as
particularly requiring further research.
In the winter season, various species resort to the sea-coast, and
others to the margins of bays and rivers in considerable numbers. In the
vicinity of the cities these have, however, greatly diminished since the
introduction of steamboats and railroads. Steam-engines, and especially
locomotives, are innovations for which the Eagles and Hawks evidently
have no fancy. To the markets appropriated to the accommodation of
farmers and traders from the rural districts in all the cities on the
Atlantic seaboard, specimens are frequently brought for sale, a demand,
reliable to some extent, having arisen from collectors and amateurs.
Occasionally an immense multitude of Hawks soaring high in the air, and
in company, has been observed. This curious phenomenon has been seen by
our friends, Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington
city; Dr. Hoy, of Racine, Wisconsin; and by ourselves. It occurs in
autumn, and is probably incidental to migration; but its exact character
and object is unknown, and involves an interesting inquiry. It is
necessarily temporary, as the procuring of suitable food by such a large
number of rapacious birds would be impossible.
In the western and northern regions of North America, the birds of this
family are particularly worthy of the attention of the traveller and
naturalist, and would undoubtedly well repay him in the discovery of
unknown species. This is the case also in the States of Florida and
Texas, to the latter of which, very probably, some of the many Mexican
species are visitors, that have not yet been noticed.
In Oregon and Russian-America, there are also very probably species
which have not been recognized as inhabitants of this continent, though
well known as birds of Northern Asia, and others entirely unknown to
naturalists.