( 350 )
T H E CARACARA EAGLE.
POLYBORUS VULGARIS, VlEILL.
P L A T E C L X I . ADULT.
I WAS not aware of the existence of the Caracara or Brazilian Ea<rle in
the United States, until my visit to the Floridas in the winter of 1 8 3 1 . On
the 24th November of that year, in the course of an excursion near the
town of St Augustine, I observed a bird flying at a great elevation, and
almost over my head. Convinced that it was unknown to me, and bent on
obtaining it, I followed it nearly a mile, when I saw it sail towards the
earth, making for a place where a group of Vultures were engaged in
devouring a dead horse. Walking up to the horse, I observed the new
bird alighted on it, and helping itself freely to the savoury meat beneath
its feet; but it evinced a degree of shyness far greater than that of its associates,
the Turkey Buzzards and Carrion Crows. I moved circuitously,
until I came to a deep ditch, along which I crawled, and went as near to
the bird as I possibly could; but finding the distance much too great for
a sure shot, I got up suddenly, when the whole of the birds took to flight.
The eagle, as if desirous of forming acquaintance with me, took a round
and passed over me. I shot, but to my great mortification missed it.
However it alighted a few hundred yards off, in an open savanna, on
which I laid myself flat on the ground, and crawled towards it, pushing
my gun before me, amid burs and mud-holes, until I reached the distance
of about seventy-five yards from it, when I stopped to observe its attitudes.
The bird did not notice me ; he stood on a lump of flesh, tearing
it to pieces, in the manner of a Vulture, until he had nearly swallowed
the whole. Being now less occupied, he spied me, erected the feathers of
his neck, and, starting up, flew away, carrying the remainder of his prey
in his talons. I shot a second time, and probably touched him; for he
dropped his burden, and made off in a direct course across the St Sebastian
River, with alternate sailings and flappings, somewhat in the manner
of a Vulture, but more gracefully. He never uttered a cry, and I followed
him wistfully with my eyes until he was quite out of sight.
The following day the bird returned, and was again among the Vultures,
but at some distance from the carcass, the birds having been kept
off by the dogs. I approached by the ditch, saw it very well, and watched
CARACARA EAGLE. 351
its movements, until it arose, when once more I shot, but without effect.
It sailed off in large circles, gliding in a very elegant manner, and now
and then diving downwards and rising again.
Two days elapsed before it returned. Being apprised by a friend of
this desired event, instead of going after it myself, I dispatched my assistant,
who returned with it in little more than half an hour. I immediately
began my drawing of it. The weather was sultry, the thermometer
being at 8 9 ° ; and, to my surprise, the vivid tints of the plumage
were fading much faster than I had ever seen them in like circumstances,
insomuch that Dr B E L L of Dublin, who saw it when fresh, and also when
I was finishing the drawing twenty-four hours after, said he could scarcely
believe it to be the same bird. How often have I thought of the changes
which I have seen effected in the colours of the bill, legs, eyes, and even
the plumage of birds, when looking on imitations which I was aware
were taken from stuffed specimens, and which I well knew could not be
accurate! The skin, when the bird was quite recent, was of a bright
yellow. The bird was extremely lousy. Its stomach contained the remains
of a bullfrog, numerous hard-shelled worms, and a quantity of horse
and deer-hair. The skin was saved with great difficulty, and its plumage
had entirely lost its original lightness of colouring. The deep red of the
fleshy parts of the head had assumed a purplish livid hue, and the spoil
scarcely resembled the coat of the living Eagle.
I made a double drawing of this individual, for the purpose of shewing
all its feathers, which I hope will be found to be accurately represented.
Since the period when I obtained the specimen above mentioned, I
have seen several others, in which no remarkable differences were observed
between the sexes, or in the general colouring. My friend Dr
B E N J A M I N STROHEL, of Charleston, South Carolina, who has resided on
the west coast of Florida, procured several individuals for the Reverend
JOHN BACHMAN, and informed me that the species undoubtedly breeds
in that part of the country, but I have never seen its nest. It has never
been seen on any of the Keys along the eastern coast of that peninsula;
and I am not aware that it has been observed any where to the eastward
of the Capes of Florida.
The most remarkable difference with respect to habits, between these
birds and the American Vultures, is the power which they possess of carrying
their prey in their talons. They often walk about, and in the