84 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM 



of the nest and, placing both feet upon it, tore off small pieces of the 

 raw flesh and fed the young in turn. The coarser parts she ate 

 herself." 



After the young are able to fl}^ they are often fed by their 

 parents while on the wing. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) writes: 

 "Three weeks later near the same place, the female flew over my 

 head, and whistled as she approached the nesting site. Upon this, 

 four full grown young Hawks flew up to meet her and she dropped 

 from her talons a mouse, which after falling about five feet was 

 skillfully caught in the air by one of the youngsters. How it was 

 done, whether in the bill or in the talons, I could not make out in the 

 confusion. It certainly did not get by the birds, who at once retired 

 to the ground, the successful one to eat its prize," 



For a long time after the young are able to fly, the family group 

 hangs together, hunting over the familiar grounds near their former 

 home, the young learning from their parents and practicing the 

 serious business of earning a living. 



When the time comes for migrating, young birds are apt to wander 

 widely in different directions. Young birds banded as nestlings by 

 William I. Lyon, at Waukegan, 111., were recovered that season, 

 one at 50 and one at 300 miles northwest, and another at 500 miles 

 southwest. 



Plumages. — ^When first hatched the chick is covered with short 

 down, very scanty on the under parts; it is pure white with only a 

 slight tinge of buffy on the upper parts. As the chick grows, the 

 down increases in length and becomes darker, "pinkish buff", on the 

 upper parts; the lores and a space around the eyes are naked. The 

 development of the juvenal plumage is described by Mr. Saunders 

 (1913) above. In fresh juvenal plumage, in August, the upper 

 parts are "mummy brown", many feathers narrowly tipped, or 

 broadly margined, or deeply notched, with "tawny" or "cinnamon"; 

 the white upper tail coverts are tinged with "cinnamon" ; the tail has 

 four dark "mummy brown" bands, the four intervening bands being 

 dark gray on the central pair of feathers and much mixed with 

 "tawny", "cinnamon", gray, and white on the other feathers; the 

 primaries are brownish black above, glaucous on the outer webs; the 

 entire under parts are rich yellowish brown, "amber brown" to 

 "ochraceous-tawny", broadly streaked on the chest and narrowly on 

 the flanks with "bister", but otherwise immaculate. The sexes are 

 alike in plumage, but there is a marked difference in size. 



The juvenal plumage is worn for about a year but becomes much 

 faded by spring ; young males fade out to almost white below. Molt- 

 ing sometimes begins in April but usually not until summer, when 

 a complete molt takes place from July to October or later. This pro- 

 duces a second winter plumage in which the sexes are different. 



