igoi] Keays — The Golden Eagle. 57 



breeds in the mountainous parts from New Mexico and Arizona 

 to far north in British Columbia and Alaska. 



Its food consists of mammals and large birds, such as rabbits, 

 racoons, gophers, squirrels, grouse, waterfowl, etc., and unlike 

 the Bald Eagle sparingly, if ever, partakes of fish, but will fre- 

 quently feed upon carrion. 



From time to time we see newspaper reports of children being 

 carried away by Eagles, fortunately, however, the majority of such 

 are sensational, but in sections of the south these birds are con- 

 demed by the sheep farmers, from the havoc they play among 

 their flocks by feeding on the very young lambs, one firm alone 

 reporting in 1889 the loss of from 400 to 500 lambs. 



A comparison of the. Golden Eagle with its near relative, the 



Bald gives the latter a slight advantage in size as the following 



table will show. 



Length. Expanse. Wing. 



Male Golden, 30 to 35 in. 78 to 84 in. 23 to 24^ in. 



Male Bald, 30 to 35 in. 84 in. 20 to 25.9 in. 



Female Golden, 35 to 40 in. 84 to 90 in. 25 to 27 in. 



Female Bald, 34 to 43 in. 84 to 96 in. 25I to 28 in. 



The Golden Eagle in Adult plumage is nearly uniform dark 

 brown, the feathers of head and hind neck and tarsus tawny, tail 

 darker than body and banded with grayish ; Young similar to 

 the adult but with basal half of tail pure white, and feathers of 

 tarsi paler sometimes nearly white or with portions white, head 

 and neck same as in adult. In any plumage it may easily be dis- 

 tinguished from the Bald Eagle by its tawny head and by having 

 the tarsus thickly feathered down to base of toes. 



Note. — The specimen referred to above has since come into 

 my possession and I have made a skin of it. The bird was ex- 

 ceedingly fat, weighing about 10 lbs. with an alar expanse 6 ft. 11 

 in. from tip to tip. Beneath the skin was found one pellet of shot 

 about No. 6, which was very much out of shape as though it had 

 hit a bone. This pellet was embedded in the fat. The ulna, (the 

 large bone in the wing) had been broken about an inch from the 

 wrist, but was entirely healed over, making a very strong join. 



W. E. Saunders. 



