VOL. I.] Nesting Habits of the Golden Eagle. 43 



My friend returned some days later for the eggs, and finding the 

 female again on the nest, on climbing up grasped her by the tail, 

 thinking to secure some feathers as well. The bird turned upon 

 him an-rily, doubtless mistaking him for a coon or wildcat, and not 

 until beaten off with his hat did she discover the mistake and take 



^' The only eagle breeding in Santa Clara and San Benito Counties 

 so far as observed by me, is the golden eagle {Aquila chrysactos). 

 The bald eagle ( Halia:etus leucocephalus ) nests, I am told, m Mon- 

 terey County ; also, in Alameda County. The golden eagle usually 

 chooses an open tree for its nest. The setting bird is said to leave the 

 ego-s uncovered for several hours after 12 M. on sunny days, while it 

 takes recreation in flying with its mate. I have never investigated this 

 fact although once on a warm day I saw an eagle fly to its nest 

 about three o'clock. They become attached to their old homes, and 

 if not disturbed, refit them for occupancy every year, increasing 

 their bulk sometimes to immense proportions. When robbed they 

 still cling to the locality, commonly building a new nest within three 

 hundred yards of the old one, although frequently they return 

 again trustingly to their old home. If robbed again at a new loca- 

 tion they are pretty certain to go back to the old nest the following 

 year but when there are two nests in the same tree, as frequently 

 happens, the persecuted eagles only remove to their first nest, 

 fancying that on another limb they will be safe from disturbance. , 

 After several years' study of these eagles, the writer feels that he 

 has formed the acquaintance of a number of individuals of this spe- 

 cies and this purely from the regularity of their habits. The hrst 

 eagle I ever saw in Santa Clara County was moving abovit the 

 erissy top of a big hill, and on nearly every day thereafter I 

 observed him at his favorite play-ground. On my visit the year 

 following he was still doing "look-out duty" at h,s old post.; The 

 nest of this eagle had a curious ornament to the interior m the 

 shape of a large ' ' soap-root. " The new nest, built the year after, 

 also contained a soap-root, which fact is of interest, as showing the 

 individuality of my feathered friend. Another eagle I know has a 

 singular predilection, when nest-building, for grain sacks, which it 

 uses chiefly in the lining. When I first discovered this eagle s nest, 

 there was one of these large sacks inside. The heavy storms of the 

 next winter dislodged its nest, and in the new one it built I was sur- 



