MAY, 1913 
A STUDY OF THE NESTING OF THE MARSH HAWK 
103 
Sheathed feathers began to appear in the oldest liirds at the tips of the wings 
on July 8, when they were seven days old. On July 14. when twelve and thirteen 
days old, the birds began to 
show fear and crawled back in- 
to the cinquefoil l)ushes when I 
approache(l. When 1 attempted 
to handle them, they sat up and 
threatened me with their beaks, 
and called in a high, squeaky, 
baby voice. On July 17 the 
feathers at the ti])s of tue wmg.s 
began to break the slicaths, and 
sheathed feathers were appear- 
ing thickly on l)ack. shoulders, 
hreast and tail. At tliis time the 
feet and cere were hcginning to 
turn from a light pinkish color 
to yellow. On July 22 the feath- 
ers were breaking the sheaths 
in many |)laces, those at the tips 
of the wings being broken for 
about two inches of their length. 
The feet and cere were now 
briglit yellow. The birds stood 
with outstretched wings and open beak, turning to face me no matter to which 
side of the nest I went. They were in about the same condition on Julv 24, so 
that I found it almost impossilile to handle them. When I attempted a jihoto- 
graph of them they crawded off 
Fig. 30. The Last Young Hawk to Leave the 
Nest, Aged 33 Days; Photo Taken August 4 
into the bushes, so that I could 
only get twm at a time in the 
picture. 
lAiring the week followdng 
this the birds changed rapidly. 
Feathers unsheathed all over 
them, and much of the w'hite 
down came off. On August 4, 
wdren the birds w-ere thirty-three 
and thirty-four days old, I a])- 
proached the nest and found 
three of them able to Hy a little. 
One rose at my approach and 
flapped aw'ay for aliout 150 feet 
before it sank in the grass. When 
I first saw" it rise, I thought it 
the mother l^ird until I had had 
time to note the fresh plumage 
and absence of holes in the 
wings. Tw"0 others rose after 
this one and flew a short dis- 
tance. I caught one of these, 
and took my last photographs of it and of the bird that had remained in the nest. 
This w"as my last visit to the nest and my last sight of the birds, as I left on a trip 
F'ig. 31. Young Marsh Hawk Aged 34 Days: 
Photo Taken August 4, 1912, near 
Chouteau, Montana 
into the mountains the next day. 
