114 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



A number of large dry stalks of Heracleum lanatum lay around 

 the rim, though these were not used in the construction of the 

 nest proper. 



Another nest was on a rock mass rising from a slope on Amak 

 Island. A few dried plant stems were the only evidence of nest 

 construction, and the single young sat on a bare spot, well 

 trampled, on top of the rock, surrounded by a fringe of green 

 grass. 



Another nest on the same island was somewhat similar. It 

 was on the grassy top of a high cliff. Two well-feathered young 

 perched in a bare trampled spot about 8 feet long, which was 

 crescent-shaped because of a hump in the middle of the space. 

 There were the usual dry cow parsnip stems around the edge, 

 but there was practically no nesting material in the center. 



A third nest on this island was more substantial, consisting of 

 dry grass with dry cow parsnip stems around the rim. 



These scanty nests contrast sharply with a nest found at 

 Amukta Island, June 16, 1936. This nest, on top of a pinnacle, 

 was built of kelp, grasses, and driftwood to a height of 4 feet. 

 A nest observed at Kanaga Island, June 29, 1936, was on the 

 grassy top of a pinnacle; it was made mostly of moss and had 

 a wide platform rimmed with dry stems of Heracleum and 

 Ligusticum and a few driftwood sticks. 



A nest on the grassy top of a columnar rock on the shore of 

 Kiska Island was in the form of a bulky mass, consisting mostly of 

 kelp. 



Still another nest, on a rocky point of Little Sitkin, was built 

 largely of dry stems of Heracleum and Ligusticum and willow 

 roots, with a lining of finer vegetation. The willow there is a 

 prostrate form, whose roots often are partly exposed by wind 

 erosion. 



These examples illustrate the general type and the variations 

 of bald eagle nests. Some of the bulky nests resulted from an 

 accumulation of material over a long period — a typical example 

 was found at Amchitka Island, July 11, 1937. This nest — a 

 shallow affair — was made mostly of moss on the grass-topped 

 point of a pinnacle rising from the beach. It rested on a mass 

 of old sod and soil to a depth of about 6 feet. This accumulation 

 was filled with bird bones. Evidently, this accumulation had been 

 built up by annual increment of debris left by nesting eagles 

 for many seasons. 



Our various expeditions were usually too late in the season 

 to observe eggs — there were young in nearly every case. The 



