242 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Yovm,g. — The period of incubation is between 21 and 25 days; 

 unless the nest is visited daily during the laying period and again 

 during hatching days and the eggs marked, it cannot be determined 

 accurately. Both parents assist in incubation and in the care of the 

 young. If the female is killed, the male will continue incubation and 

 rear the young alone. Mr. Burns (1911) says: "Early in May, '93, 

 a nest was found just completed. No eggs were ever deposited and 

 but one bird seen in the vicinity. At every visit he showed as much 

 solicitude as if it was occupied, and several times upon ascending, 

 fresh green poplar leaves had been added to the lining. The nest 

 was not deserted until the latter part of June; the conclusion that 

 it was built by an unmated or bereaved male, seems well founded." 



He noted that the young remained in the nest for 41 days in one 

 case, and again that one was prematurely flushed from the nest 

 29 days after hatching. He writes : 



Abundance of food is provided and the nest supplied daily with green leaf 

 sprays, by the parents. The tender young are protected from the hot summer 

 sun, inclement weather and cool nights. I have found the male covering 

 5 days old hawklets. Even when they have become fairly well fledged, one 

 or the other of the birds seem always in attendance in a nearby tree top. The 

 whistled protest of the parents as they shadow one through the woods, is all 

 the hint one often has of their presence and unceasing vigilance. How long 

 they are guarded after leaving the nest, I am unable to say, but for a week 

 or two after the nest is vacated, a protesting whistle from a hidden form in 

 the neighboring foliage informs one of the jealous care of the juveniles 

 doubtless also hidden nearby. The immatures are unmercifully driven out of 

 the adult's territory the following spring, should they attempt to invade it. 

 Parental care does not survive the winter's frost. * ♦ * 



The chick utters a peeping cry as soon as out of the shell and appears 

 hungry as soon as its down has dried. I have seen it turn its head and bite 

 at my thumb, when less than a day old. For some days the adults dismember 

 the food and the young soon learn to snatch it piecemeal from their beaks. 

 When from five to eight days old it sits erect and its mouth flies open at every 

 sound ; it is able to disgorge a pellet the size of a hazelnut, scratch itself and 

 behave as well to its mates as the best tempered of birds. 



I have seen a pair of adults still attendant on a brood of fully 

 grown young as late as July 29. Young broad-winged hawks will 

 make good pets, if not taken from the nest when too young. One 

 that I took when about a week old and fed on raw meat finally 

 sickened and died. Probably it did not get the right food. It would 

 be safer to wait until the bird is three or four weeks old and nearly 

 ready to fly. See an article on this subject by Dr. Louis B. Bishop 

 (1901). 



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

 white down, basally grayish. Later the down becomes whiter. I 

 have a brood of three young in my collection taken out of the nest 

 at different ages. One, 9 days old, is still wholly downy. On an- 



