134 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. iS-No. 10 



as soon as he heard me coming up, or per- 

 haps he was cold. His eyes were open and 

 of a greyish color. There is a stuffed Hawk 

 about three days' old at the Peabody mu- 

 seum in New Haven. It looks just as this 

 one did. 



On the 13th, when I went next, all the 

 eggs had hatched and the shells were all 

 taken away. There was a surprising differ- 

 ence in the size of the chicks, the first out 

 being three times the size of his youngest 

 brother. The smallest looked as if he was 

 just out of the egg. 



May 20th he had disappeared. The poor 

 little chap was probably starved out. See 

 Darwin on the " survival of the fittest." 

 There is not as much difference between 

 the other three as before. They have grown 

 fat on the food that the little one would 

 have had. 



I gave them two young E^nglish Sparrows, 

 hoping that they would acquire a taste for 

 those dirty little immigrants, but they were 

 not hungry. There was a half-eaten frog in 

 the nest, also some fresh maple leaves. I 

 don't see why the bird brought them there. 

 They could not have come themselves, as 

 they were attached to a twig about six inches 

 long, and besides there are no maple trees 

 in the immediate vicinity, only black oaks. 

 Perhaps the chicks used them as fans to 

 keep the flies off ! 



The oldest chick found his voice to-day. 

 He balanced himself on his tail — his legs 

 are still much too weak to hold him — and 

 squawked at me quite bravely. Rather 

 feebly to be sure, but my brother in the 

 boat thought it was the old one at a dis- 

 tance. 



On the 27 th the primaries had begun to 

 show. The largest Hawk got up on his legs, 

 but would have tipped over backward out of 

 the nest if I hadn't put my hand there. 

 The others simply sat up straight and opened 

 their mouths — too surprised to speak. There 

 was a green willow stick in the nest over 

 three feet long, with the leaves all on it. 



Can any one tell me what they do with 

 these green things? 



June 5th the wing feathers were four 

 inches long, and the tail an inch and a half. 

 There were many large feathers on the 

 back, less on the breast and only a few on 

 the head. The shoulders ha\e a decidedly 

 reddish tinge. 



\\'e have a regular programme now, which 

 the birds follow whenever I go up. As 

 soon as I come in right above the edge of 

 the nest, which is practically a sphere of 

 sticks about two feet in diameter, merely 

 flattened on top and softened with leaves, 

 up jumps the largest with wide open mouth, 

 and begins to back off. When I think he 

 will surely fall over the edge of the nest, he 

 stops and stands there swaying about in a 

 very reckless manner. He reminds me of 

 a chicken which has had too much bread 

 and whiskey. He seems to impress it upon 

 his brothers " that something's up " — -which 

 is me. 'Phey sit up and open their mouths 

 and stick their legs straight out in front and 

 stare with an expression that is a combina- 

 tion of surprise and fear which would make 

 a fortune for any taxidermist who could re- 

 produce it. Here's an idea for some of 

 our rising young naturalists : a nest full of 

 young Hawks staring in surprise at a stuffed 

 monkey appearing above the edge. 



When I climb down they tune up and 

 keep on squawking until I get nearly to the 

 bottom. If I touch them or make any sud- 

 den movements they begin sooner. 



June 12th the plumage had increased a 

 good deal, but they still have a thick coat of 

 fuzz underneath. The legs are covered down 

 to the knee joint. The under parts are 

 white, spotted with brown, and the back a 

 darker color. 



They were all standing up when I got in 

 sight of the nest, and as I went up very 

 quietly they didn't seem much frightened. 

 I made one perch on my hand by pushing 

 against his toes. He didn't seem to mind 

 it much, nor did he yell at all until I started 



