BALD EAOLE. 17 



value, "while the good it does more than compensates for it^ obnoxious 

 deeds; and furthermore it seems not likely ever to become abundant 

 enough in any locality to be seriously destructive. 



DESTRUCTION BY MAN. 



By reason of its size, strength, power of flight, its manner and place 

 of living, this eagle has no formidable enemies except man. In some 

 localities, as for instance parts of California and Ohio, it is held in 

 high regard by the people on account of its beneficial or interesting 

 habits ; but in most places it is the victim of the all too common impulse 

 to kill or of an exaggerated estimate of its destructiveness. It has 

 been much reduced in numbers along the Niagara River below the 

 falls by hunters aware of its habit of resorting there for food. 



Mr. James H. Gaut, wiiile in the field for the Biological Survey, 

 reported from the Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma, under date of 

 May 28, 1904, that a few years previous this species was c^uite numer- 

 ous in that locality, but at the tune of his visit almost extinct as a 

 result of persistent persecution by the Indians, who prize the tail- 

 feathers for decorating their war bonnets. The two largest feathers 

 of the tail bring a dollar each, while the others are sold for fifty cents 

 apiece. 



The rifle and the shotgun are the implements of warfare that seem 

 to be most frequently employed against this eagle, though sometimes 

 the steel trap has proved eciually effective. There is some cjuestion 

 regarding the effect that poison has on the bald eagle, and unfor- 

 tunately we are unable to settle the question. Mr. Thomas Mc- 

 Ilwraith states that in winter at Hamilton Beach, Ontario, poisoned 

 carcasses placed near the edge of the ice are readily eaten, and that 

 often the bird dies before leaving the spot. Audubon, however, 

 mentions an entirely unsuccessful attempt to poison an eagle of this 

 species," during which a number of mineral poisons were successively 

 administered m large doses, including a dram of corrosive sublimate 

 and an equal quantity of white arsenic, but none of these produced 

 the slightest apparent effect. Str3^chnine is commonly supposed to 

 be a certain means of death for eagles, but why this should be so if 

 mineral poisons are harmless is not clear. 



In most of the States of the Union and in many of the Canadian 

 provinces the bald eagle is protected by law, either specifically or by 

 general enactment, but in a few it is still specially exempted from the 

 provisions of the general non-game protection acts. For many 

 reasons, patriotic, esthetic, and economic, this fine eagle is wortiiy of 

 preservation, and not only should it everywhere be protected by 

 legislation, but public sentiment ought to be aroused in its favor that 

 it be not exterminated from our domain. 



oOmith. Biog., II, 1835, p. 163. 



