MARSH HAWK 83 



they sat up and threatened me with their beaks, and called in a high, squeaky, 

 baby voice. On July 17 the feathers at the tips of the wings began to break 

 the sheaths, and sheathed feathers were appearing thickly on back, shoulders, 

 breast and tail. At this time the feet and cere were beginning to turn from 

 a light pinkish color to yellow. On July 22 the feathers were breaking the 

 sheaths in many places, those at the tips of the wings being broken for about 

 two inches of their length. The feet and cere were now bright yellow. The 

 birds stood with outstretched wings and open beak, turning to face me 

 no matter to which side of the nest I went. They were in about the same 

 condition on July 24, so that I found it almost impossible to handle them. 

 When I attempted a photograph of them they crawled off into the bushes, 

 so that I could only get two at a time in the picture. 



During the week following this the birds changed rapidly. Feathers un- 

 sheathed all over them, and much of the white down came off. On August 4, 

 when the birds were thirty-three and thirty-four days old, I approached the 

 nest and found three of them able to fly a little. One rose at my approach 

 and flapped away for about 150 feet before it sank in the grass. 



Mr. Urner (1925) found that the time from hatching to flight 

 was about 30 to 35 days. He refers to them as "sturdy, fearless, wide 

 awake, active, noisy and hungry youngsters. * * * The readi- 

 ness with which the young imitate their parents is worthy of note. 

 On July 7, I visited a brood which had left the nest and learned 

 to fly, though still in the vicinity of the nesting site. They flew in all 

 directions as I approached, uttering an immature peeping call. The 

 adult male turned immediately to attack and I was surprised to see 

 two of the young, probably males, follow suit, flying in very close 

 and making a more or less unsuccessful effort to imitate the long 

 rolling call." 



As to the food of the young he says : 



As far as I can judge from remains picked up in the general vicinity of 

 the nests, mice and small birds, supplemented with insects, constitute the 

 principal fare during early life. But as the birds grow, rats assume a more 

 important role, and in or near two different nests I found remains, picked 

 clean, of practically full-grown American Bitterns {Botaurus lentigiwosus). 

 Now the young American Bittern is no mean antagonist, and the fact that 

 such large birds are actually killed and carried to the nest indicates the 

 calibre of the Hamer as a hunter. * * * During the fourth week of the 

 young Harrier's life pellets of fur and feathers, containing some bone, begin 

 to appear about the nest. These pellets are often as large, as compact and 

 as well formed as those of the Short-eared Owls, constituting an interesting 

 similarity between the two species. It is probable that the failure to find 

 pellets about the nests earlier in the young brood's growth is due to the thor- 

 ough removal of waste by the adults, rather than any change in feeding 

 habits. 



The main reason why pellets are not found about the nest dur- 

 ing the early life of the young is that the old bird feeds the young, 

 at that age, with small pieces of pure flesh. Dr. Frank N. Wilson 

 (1927) saw, at close range, a marsh hawk feed a field mouse to 

 her small young. "Holding it in her beak, she walked to the edge 



