EASTERN SPARROW HAWK 111 



a marked difference was observed in behavior of the males and of the females. 

 When a finger or a stick was pointed into the nest all opened their mouths; the 

 males did little more than this as they hugged the farthest side of the nest but the 

 females, springing to the center of the nest, every feather on their heads standing 

 out seemingly at right angles, wings spread, mouths open and squawking, were 

 ready to claw and bite. * * * When the mother came in there was little 

 clamor and no struggling for food on the part of the nestlings. In their earlier 

 days they merely braced themselves in the circle where they lay, later they stood 

 in an orderly row against the side of the nest. With great rapidity the mother 

 tore the flesh and bending her head almost at right angle with the bill of the young 

 one she gave it the morsel. Her motions in this act were very dainty and graceful; 

 this bending of her head was apparently necessitated by the hooked beaks of both. 

 Sometimes the pieces served were so large that they were swallowed with difficulty. 

 No more than five minutes were occupied in these feedings. At first the food 

 served was "dressed meat," and the remainders of the feast were carried out by the 

 mother, and eaten by her in the dead willow. On June 17, she brought in the body 

 of a half-grown ground squirrel with the skin still on, probably I frightened her 

 out prematurely, since she left the remnant of the squirrel. It was not until a 

 week later that she began regularly to leave the quarry for the hawklets to feed 

 themselves. Thereafter she entered the nest with the food, but remained inside 

 less than a minute, sometimes no more than twenty seconds. 



The same difference in temperament between the two sexes dis- 

 played by Miss Sherman's birds was shown in a case of some captive 

 young sparrow hawks reported by Harold M. Holland (1923). He 

 says: "Three were females, and it should be recorded that the lone 

 male became, from the first, much the most tractable." He goes on 

 to say that "all exhibited a strong inclination for bathing and in this 

 they frequently indulged." 



Dr. John B. May (1927) reports a similar case. He says: "It was 

 interesting to note the difference in disposition between the two birds 

 as their feathers rapidly developed. The female was much wilder 

 from the start, and squealed loudly when approached. The male was 

 very docile and would have made a delightful pet, I am sure." 



Plumages. — [Author's note: When first hatched the young spar- 

 row hawk is only scantily covered with white down on the feather 

 tracts of the head, wings, and body. A larger young bird, about 6 

 inches long, is covered with longer, yellowish- white down, through 

 which the first plumage is appearing on the head, central back, wings, 

 tail, flanks, and pectoral tracts. 



The sparrow hawk is one of the few species in which the sexes are 

 decidedly unlike in the juvenal plumage, the color patterns of both 

 sexes suggesting clearly the adult plumages of their respective sexes. 



In the young male, the crown, wing coverts, and tertials are "deep 

 plumbeous", with only a hidden trace of the rufous crown patch and 

 with larger black spots on the coverts than in the adult; the upper 

 back and scapulars are "terra cotta", broadly banded with black; 

 the rump and upper tail coverts are "cinnamon-rufous", unmarked; 

 the tail is as in the adult male, but the rufous is more restricted to the 



