SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 101 



The chronology of the development is given in Mr. Bust's (1914) 

 observations, above. 



In full Juvenal plumage the upper parts are "sepia" or "bister", 

 edged on the crown and tipped on the back, scapulars, upper tail 

 coverts, wing coverts, and tertails with "tawny"; the under parts 

 are white, or buify white, wnth large tear-shaped spots, or streaks, 

 of "snuff brown" or "sayal brown", lighter on the tibiae; in some 

 birds the tibiae are uniform, clear "tawny"; the throat is white, 

 narrowly streaked with dusky. The plumage is worn without much 

 change during the first winter ; but it becomes much faded by spring, 

 and the molt begins in May. Both sexes are alike in this plumage, 

 but the male is much smaller. They breed in this plumage. The 

 first postnuptial molt is com.plete, but much prolonged, from April 

 or May to September or October. It produces a second winter 

 plumage which is nearly adult, but browner above with some tawny 

 edgings, especially in the female; the feathers of the breast and 

 flanks are patterned, much as in the adult, giving a transversely 

 barred effect, but in darker browns, with less white. The full 

 perfection of the adult plumage is acquired at the second, postnuptial 

 complete molt, from July to October, the regular annual molting 

 time for adults. There is considerable individual variation in 

 adults, which is perhaps due to age; a male, which is mostly clear 

 "pinkish cinnamon" on the breast and clear "orange-cinnamon" 

 on the tibiae, is perhaps a very old bird. In all adult females the 

 upper parts are less bluish, more brownish, and the under parts 

 are lighter than in males. 



Food. — Dr. A. K. Fisher (1893) gives a long list of the food of 

 the sharp-shinned hawk and then summarizes it, as follows : "Of 159 

 stomachs examined, 6 contained poultry or game birds; 99, other 

 birds ; 6, mice ; 5, insects ; and 52 were empty." It is especially fond 

 of young chickens and domestic pigeons, and will make frequent 

 raids on the poultry yard, as long as the supplj^ lasts, or until a 

 charge of shot puts an end to it. The larger females are strong 

 enough to carry off a half-grown chicken or an adult pigeon. Her- 

 bert L. Stoddard (1931) has seen one carry off a full-grown bob- 

 white; and other quails are easy prey for it. R. B. Simpson (1911) 

 has seen it pick a red squirrel off a limb and "fly heavily away with 

 its struggling victim, holding it down as far away from its body as 

 possible." He also saw one attack a pileated woodpecker, which was 

 dodging around a tree trunk and screaming; the hawk's career was 

 promptly ended by a charge of shot. C. J. Maynard (1896) relates 

 the following : 



These small Hawks are very bold and will not hesitate to attack birds 

 which are larger than themselves, and I ouce saw one strike down a fully 



