190 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



weeks old and mounted : "When the young hawks were being sldnned 

 both birds were found to have the ears affected with maggots; 20 

 were collected from the four ears and preserved; the maggots were 

 similar to Protocali-phora larvae commonly infesting bluebird and 

 tree-swallow boxes and rarely some nests such as the phoebe. These 

 maggots had eaten about the ears not only to disfigure the outer 

 ear cavity, leaving the marks of their attacks so that they are pre- 

 served in the mounted specimens, but had completely destroyed 

 both ear drums of both birds. It is to be wondered how long these 

 young hawks would have survived had they lived to reach maturity." 



Plumages. — The small downy young is thickly covered with long, 

 soft, silky down, longest on the head, yellowish white above, tinged 

 with "vinaceous-buff" on the back and wings, and whiter below. This 

 is succeeded by a dense covering of short, thick, woolly down, thickest 

 on the belly, where it is pure white, and grayish white above. The 

 wing quills are the first to sprout, when the young bird is about two 

 weeks old, followed by the scapulars, wing coverts, and then the con- 

 tour plumage. The back is fully feathered first, then the sides of 

 the breast. The head, center of the breast, and thighs show the last 

 of the down. This has all been worked out in detail, from birds 

 raised in captivity, by Mr. Kennard (1894b), with much information 

 on the growth, food, and behavior of the young hawks. 



In fresh juvenal plumage the crown, back, and wing coverts are 

 dark '"bister", with "tawny" edgings; the tips of the primaries are 

 brownish black without barring, but inwardly they are extensively 

 patterned with dusky and "pinkish cinnamon"; the secondaries are 

 notched with the latter color, and the tertials and upper tail coverts 

 are broadly tipped with it; the tail is tipped with white and has a 

 broad subterminal band of brownish black and seven to nine nar- 

 rower bands above it, the spaces between being variegated with "hair 

 brown" and light gray on the outer portion and with much "orange- 

 cinnamon" on the basal half; the breast varies from pale buff ante- 

 riorly to buffy white posteriorly, with elongated ovate spots of sepia, 

 largest on the breast and smallest and palest on the belly and tibiae. 



This plumage is worn for about 18 months without much change, 

 except by wear and fading; the tawny edgings wear away and the 

 under parts fade out to whitish, but the cinnamon tints in the 

 remiges and rectrices generally remain. The complete postjuvenal 

 molt begins in summer and is prolonged through the fall. Some 

 birds, perhaps all, acquire during this molt numerous triangular 

 spots of sepia on the breast, which persist while the rufous plumage 

 of the breast is being assumed. The wings and tail are apparently 

 molted late in fall or in winter, and I doubt if the fully adult plum- 

 age is acquired until after the next annual molt. 



