condors? As a considerable degree of confusion has prevailed in the synonyms of this and the foregoing species, caused apparently by a doubt to which of them Molina applied the name of _Jote_, I would wish to call attention to the fact, that at the present time the _C. aura_ in Chile goes by the name of _Jote_. Moreover, I think Molina’s description by itself might have decided the question; he says, the head of the _Vultur jota_ is naked, and covered only with a wrinkled and _reddish_ (roxiza) skin. FAMILY—FALCONIDÆ. SUB-FAM. POLYBORINÆ, _Swains._ (Caracaridæ, D’Orbigny.) POLYBORUS BRASILIENSIS. _Swains._ Polyborus vulgaris, _Vieillot_. Falco Brasiliensis Auctorum; Caracara of Azara; Tharu of Molina; and Carrancha of the inhabitants of La Plata. This is one of the commonest birds in South America, and has a wide geographical range. It is found in Mexico and in the West Indies. It is also, according to M. Audubon, an occasional visitant to the Floridas; it takes its name from Brazil, but is no where so common as on the grassy savannahs of La Plata. It generally follows man, but is sometimes found even on the most desert plains of Patagonia: in the northern part of that region, numbers constantly attended the line of road between the Rio Negro and the Colorado, to devour the carcasses of the animals which chanced to perish from fatigue. Although abundant on the open plains of this eastern portion of the continent, and likewise on the rocky and barren shores of the Pacific, nevertheless it inhabits the borders of the damp and impervious forests of Tierra del Fuego and of the broken coast of West Patagonia, even as far south as Cape Horn. The Carranchas (as the _Polyborus Brasiliensis_ is called in La Plata) together with the _P. chimango_[6], attend in great numbers the estancias and slaughtering houses in the neighbourhood of the Plata. If an animal dies in the plain, the _Cathartes atratus_ or Gallinazo commences the feast, and then these two carrion-feeding hawks pick the bones clean. Although belonging to closely allied genera, and thus commonly feeding together, they are far from being friends. When the Carrancha is quietly seated on the branch of a tree, or on the ground, the Chimango often continues flying backwards and forwards for a long time, up and down in a semicircle, trying each time, at the bottom of the curve, to strike its larger relative. The Carrancha takes little notice, except by bobbing its head. Although the Carranchas frequently assemble in numbers, they are not gregarious; for in desert places they may be seen solitary, or more commonly by pairs. Besides the carrion of large animals, these birds frequent the borders of streams and the sea beach, for the sake of picking up whatever the waters may cast on shore. In Tierra del Fuego, and on the west coast of Patagonia, they must live almost exclusively on