BALD EAGLE. 9 



The nest is located nearly always in the vicinity of a stream or body 

 of water, often along the seacoast. The favorite site is the top of a 

 tall tree, in the South often a pine, frequently a hundred feet or more 

 from the ground. Where there are no trees a rock or a niche in a cliff 

 serves the purpose, while along the coast of Texas nests have been 

 found even on the ground of low islands. 



The same nest is occupied year after year, and annually repaired or 

 augmented until it becomes an immense structure 5, 6, or even 8 

 feet high and as much in diameter, containing fully a cartload or 

 two of material. It usually forms a strong platform with only a 

 slight depression in the center, and easily sustains the weight of a man; 

 but when built on the ground it occasionally consists merely of a few 

 sticks and a little rubbish. The usual material is sticks of all sizes up 

 to fully 3 inches in diameter and 5 feet in length, weeds, vines, grass, 

 moss, and pieces of turf, with more or less lining of twigs, grass, straw, 

 hay, moss, lichens, leaves, and seaweed. 



The eggs are dull white and generally two, unusually one or three, 

 rarely four in number. They are deposited at intervals of two to four 

 days, and incubation, in which both male and female take part, lasts 

 about thirty to thirty-six days. The nestlings are at first covered 

 with a whitish, then a grayish, down, which in time gives place to the 

 firmer dark brown feathers of the first complete plumage. They 

 remain a long time in the nest, probably at least three months, during 

 which period they are lavishly supplied with food by their parents. 



The old birds commonly make but little demonstration when the 

 nest is approached or even closely examined, though in a few instances 

 they have been known viciously to attack the intruder. Only one 

 brood is reared, and if eggs or young be destroyed no further attempt 

 to rear young is made the same season. Often the old birds, particu- 

 larly in the South, frequent the nest during much of the year, using it 

 as a kind of general rendezvous. 



FOOD HABITS. 



The bald eagle lives partly after the manner of vultures, gorging 

 itself to repletion when opportunity offers, then perhaps obliged to 

 fast for days. Lack of food even for a considerable period is appar- 

 ently no serious inconvenience, since Mr. George A. Boardman once 

 kept an individual without food for thirty-two days. The indigesti- 

 ble portions of its food are ultimately disgorged in the shape of 

 pellets that resemble those of owls. One of these pellets, found by 

 Mr. Edward A. Preble, of the Biological Survey, in a nest at Mount 

 Vernon, Va., some years ago, was almost round, about If inches in 

 diameter, and composed entirely of the feathers of poultry, together 

 with some mammal hair. The young of this species appear to be fed 

 on the same kinds of food as are eaten by the adults. 

 5281— No. 27—06 2 



