130 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



in succession, new material being added each season until they become 

 very large. 



Eggs. — Audubon's caracara lays two or three eggs, oftener two and 

 very rarely four. These are usually ovate to oval in shape, and the 

 shell is smooth or finely granulated. The ground color, which is 

 usually mostly concealed, is white, creamy white, or pinkish white. 

 Oftener the entire shell is washed or clouded with "light ochraceous- 

 buff", "vinaceous-cinnamon", or "vinaceous-russet" ; such eggs are 

 often otherwise unmarked. Usually the ground color, whether light 

 or dark, is largely concealed by irregular blotches, scrawls, splashes, 

 or spots of darker browns, "bay", "chestnut-brown", or "burnt 

 umber." Some eggs with a light ground color are openly spotted, or 

 blotched, with fighter browns, "Kaiser brown", "hazel", or "russet" 

 in pretty patterns. Very rarely an egg is nearly immaculate. The 

 measurements of 57 eggs average 59.4 by 46.5 millimeters; the eggs 

 showing the four extremes measure 74.5 by 54.5, 53.8 by 44.5, and 56 

 by 43.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation lasts for about 28 days and is shared by both 

 sexes. Ordinarily only one brood is raised in a season, but, if the 

 eggs are taken, a second, or even a third, set may be laid. Joseph C. 

 Howell, however, writes to me of an exceptional case of two broods 

 being raised; he says: "On December 27, 1931, Hugo Shroeder and I 

 found a caracara nest with one young, which I estimated was at least 

 5 weeks old. Returning to this cabbage hammock on March 20, 

 1932, we observed the birds remodeling the nest. On April 7 the nest 

 held two eggs. This is the only instance I am aware of in which a 

 pair of caracaras have raised two broods in a season. Moreover, this 

 pair must have had a set of eggs in October." 



J. K. Strecker, Jr. (1894), writes: "I am told that the young Cara- 

 caras occupy the nest for two or three months after they are hatched, 

 which, if so, shows a resemblance to the habits of the young of the 

 Vultures while in the nest. However, although the young Vultures 

 are fed by regurgitation, the young of the Caracara are fed in the 

 same manner as other Falcons, i. e., with fresh meat, although I 

 think that the adults feed quite freely on carrion." 



Plumages. — The young caracara, in its natal down, is quite unique 

 and rather pretty. It is completely covered with long, thick, soft 

 down; the upper half of the head is dark, rich brown, "Mars brown" 

 to "auburn"; a large spot on each shoulder, a smaller one on each 

 thigh and one on the rump are "Mars brown" to "mummy brown"; 

 elsewhere the color varies from "pinkish buff" to "pale pinkish buff." 

 A nestling 10 inches long is still mainly downy, but the juvenal 

 plumage is appearing on the scapulars, middle of the back, flanks, and 

 middle of the belly; the primaries are growing. 



