FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 111 



Cahn (1947) reports seeing one of these birds at Dutch Harbor 

 on May 16, 1945, and he reports that he watched it under 

 favorable circumstances for 10 minutes. Sutton and Wilson, at 

 Attu, watched two dark-headed, white-tailed eagles, identified as 

 this species, on March 15, 1945. 



We did not see this bird on any of our expeditions. A 

 number of times we thought that we had sighted one, but each 

 time it proved to be a bald eagle in one of its immature plumages. 

 These plumages can be confusing, and we felt that records of 

 the gray sea eagle should be based on specimens. 



Haliaeetus leucocephalus: Bald Eagle 

 Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus 



Attu: Tirrgh-luch 

 Atka : Tig-a-lach 



A-waich'-rich (immature) 

 Alaska Peninsula: Tikh-lukh (Wetmore) 



The bald eagle is commonly distributed throughout the length 

 of Alaska Peninsula and adjacent island groups, and the Aleutian 

 chain. It is numerous in some places. In the Aleutians, nearly 

 every island that we visited had at least 1, often 2 or more, 

 pairs, nesting. They are numerous about the larger islands. 

 Williams noted 15 eagles in Bay of Islands, Adak Island, July 2, 

 1936, and more were found on other parts of the island. On June 

 29, we saw several at Kanaga Island. The caretaker of a fox- 

 ranching establishment there had killed 14 of these eagles for 

 the bounty, and he planned on raiding 20 more nests later. 



For some reason, the bald eagle is scarce in the Near Islands- 

 including Attu, Agattu, and Semichi. We observed a single pair 

 on Agattu in 1937, but we saw none at Attu or Semichi and the 

 natives assured us they were very scarce. However, we found 

 a nest on Buldir Island, and from that point eastward bald 

 eagles were common. 



Not only do eagles occur along the Alaska Peninsula, they also 

 occur on the offshore island groups. In 1940, Gabrielson observed 

 them in several places at the base of Alaska Peninsula. At 

 Kodiak, in 1936, one merchant erected a sign advertising the 

 fact that eagle feet were acceptable as cash (bounty could be 

 collected for them). 



Plumage and Other Color Changes 



Too few specimens were handled to obtain precise information 

 on plumage changes. A. C. Bent (1937) states that he believes 

 the bald eagle assumes the adult plumage in the fourth year. 



