BENNETT'S WHITE-TAILED HAWK 219 



covered with short, cottony down, yellowish white, with a black 

 space around the eye; the crown and occiput are thickly adorned 

 with long, silky, hairlike down, from half to three-quarters of an 

 inch in length, which probably is erected in life; it is basally whit- 

 ish, but varies from "warm sepia" to "bone brown" toward the tips; 

 similar, but shorter, silky down tipped with "sepia" adorns the back 

 and wings. Mr. Burrows (1917) says: "The young of this species 

 when in the down are mouse color, differing in this respect from 

 most other hawks. This I presume, is a protective coloration, for the 

 nests are seldom protected in the least by branches or foliage above." 



The Juvenal plumage appears first on the scapulars, then on wings, 

 tail, and body. The down disappears last from the throat, central 

 breast, flanks, and tibiae. In fresh juvenal plumage, in May, the 

 entire upper parts are brownish black, broadly tipped with "pinkish 

 cinnamon", on tlie scapulars and wing coverts ; the sides of the breast 

 are the same with buffy tips; the upper breast is "cinnamon-buff", 

 with black streaks; tlie belly is dark sepia; broadly tipped with 

 "cream-buff"; the tibiae are broadly barred with "cream-buff" and 

 dusky; the tail is "hair brown" to "drab", inner webs largely white, 

 with numerous faint dusky bars on the upper side and with a buffy 

 white tip. One very dark October bird, in which the light edgings 

 have mostly worn away, is almost wholly a deep, rich, brownish 

 black, or very dark "warm sepia", the feathers of the belly and 

 tibiae being tipped with light buff; this may be a melano. 



During the first winter the upper parts become faded to "bister", 

 and considerable new white plumage appears on the under parts from 

 throat to belly ; by spring the breast and belly are largely white. 



Apparently a complete molt occurs in summer and fall, though 

 I have not been able to trace it, at which a second-year plumage is 

 assumed. In this the upper parts are similar to the first plumage; 

 the anterior, lesser wing coverts are dull "tawny", and some of the 

 scapulars are edged, barred, or notched with this color, forecasting 

 the adult color pattern ; the rump is white, barred with dull "russet" 

 and dusky ; the new tail is grayish white, with about 10 narrow dusky 

 bars on the central pair of feathers ; the other rectrices are narrowly 

 barred with dusky and more or less clouded with gray; all rectrices 

 have a broad, subterminal black band; the throat and sides of the 

 neck are "bister" and the upper breast clear white ; the belly, flanks, 

 and tibiae are white, barred with dusky, heavily on the flanks and 

 lightly on the tibiae. 



I believe that at least another year is required to assume the fully 

 adult plumage and perhaps more than that to reach its highest per- 

 fection. Apparently, as the bird grows older, the head and mantle 

 become grayer, a soft plumbeous-gray; the lesser wing coverts be- 



