﻿156 



Bird- Lore 



They were of different sizes, the one first hatched being the larger. He was 

 also the stronger of the two, and it is he who in the series of three photo- 

 graphs which show the young, stands 

 in such a frightened attitude while 

 the weaker one crouches at his nest- 

 mate's feet. The young were con- 

 tinually peeping and could be heard 

 some distance from the nest. At the 

 age of seventeen days, the quill 

 feathers were beginning to appear. 

 Since my last visit the nest had been 

 altered. The 

 larger fledgling 

 occupied the 

 main part and 

 the smaller 

 made use of the 

 portion on the 

 other side of 

 still in the nest the nest. 



on my next ^^'^^^nQHH&^^B! l ^^ ^' 



visit, June 8. -'^ JtSw^lamk HtcIf* P ected to finci 

 They were IHJJm the young biras 



there, however, 

 and, although 

 they were 

 t w e n t y-n i ne 

 days old, there 



were still patches of down among 

 the growing brown feathers. They 

 seemed no more afraid of me than 

 they would have been of a large 

 object of any description. They 

 opened their beaks and spread their 

 wings, but had not yet learned the 

 defensive use of the former or how 

 to get out of harm's way with the 

 latter. On this, my last visit before 

 the young left the nest, I crept 

 cautiously through the woods east- 

 ward of the nest and succeeded 



in reaching the base of the tree without either Hawk guessing my pro- 

 ximity. Presently one came sinking to the nest as silent as the shadow 



YOUNG RED-TAILS AT SIX, SEVENTEEN AND 

 TWENTY-ONE DAYS OLD 



