ORNITHOLOGY 



123 



rent birds, they made no attempt to de- 

 fend their nest and young, and during 

 all this time soared majestically about. 

 high overhead. 



The next morning we noted both 

 eagles circling about the nest, but did 

 not re-visit it. Subsequently inquiries in 

 the vicinity showed that both nests here 

 referred to have been occupied succes- 



on a most exciting trip as far as Sara- 

 sota Bay — which, however, is another 

 storv and has nothinsf to do with eacles. 



State Bird Sanctuaries. 



A new held of service for Natural 

 History Societies is made possible by 

 the ^Massachusetts statute which g-ives 



THE EAGLET IN THE NEST. 



sively for the past seven years, a family 

 near-by assuring us that the large one 

 has been used to their personal knowl- 

 edge for at least eighteen years, being 

 when they first knew it but a comparatively 

 small nest. \\'e were told that the eagles 

 leave this locality about the first or mid- 

 dle of August and are absent for a 

 period of about two months. A pair had 

 been seen roosting nightl\' in the trees 

 near here, and another pair about a mile 

 away. \A e learned also from a woman 

 living not far distant of a still larger 

 nest which she stated she had known for 

 over twenty years, ^^'e did not, how- 

 ever, have opportunity to investigate it, 

 and though we saw other eagles in this 

 general locality, — both in the immature 

 and adult plumages, — we could not 

 spare the time to search for their nests. 



With urgent invitations to return we 

 left A'enice about smirise on the morn- 

 ing of the twelvth, to continue our cruise 

 up the west coast. Somewhat reluctant- 

 ly we left our anchorage and passed out 

 of this quiet bay. for it was a charming- 

 spot and we had made several new 

 friends, three of whom accompanied us 



to the Fish and Game Commissioners 

 power to take over land, on request of 

 the owners, and use it as sanctuary for 

 wild life. 



The Andover Natural History So- 

 ciety, for example, selected a tract of 

 wild country some two miles long and 

 a half mile wide, containing a stream 

 and a small pond, and persuaded its 

 owners, some fifteen in number, to join 

 with it in having the area made a State 

 Reservation. The society undertook 

 to relieve the owners of all trouble and 

 expense, to put up bird houses, to 

 keep down enemies of the interesting- 

 wild life, and to feed the creatures 

 through the winter. In return, the 

 owners are protected In- the state offi- 

 cers from the depredations of gunners 

 — so that as a matter of fact, they were 

 nearly all heartily glad to come into 

 the scheme. 



Thus through the efl:'orts of the local 

 society, the community has added an 

 interesting feature to its other attrac- 

 tions, although no single owner had 

 any special interest in the matter or 



