198 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



All communications for this department 

 should be sent to the Department Editor, 

 Mr. Harry G. Higbee, 13 Austin Street, 

 Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Items, articles 

 and photographs in this department not 

 otherwise credited are by the Department 

 Editor, 



Young Bald Eagles. 



BY F. J. HAYDEN, VENICE, FLORIDA. 



The interesting article in the September 

 number with description of the Great 

 American eagle by the department editor 

 prompts the writer to offer a little supple- 



THE NEST WITH THE TWO YOUNG EAGLES. 



mentary data taken in the same locality 

 one year after Mr. Higbee's visit to our 

 home in Venice, Fla. 



Early in December, 19 14, we discov- 

 ered a new nest on the shore of Dona 

 P)ay. It was occupied by a pair of splen- 

 did birds which we daily observed cir- 

 cling over the bay in front of our home, 

 robbing gulls, cormorants, pelicans and 

 ospreys with cheerful indiscrimination, 

 carrying the captured fish away to their 

 tree-top nest. 



One fine day in January while passing 

 in our launch we saw two young birds 

 standing on the edge of the nest. We 

 were, of course, delighted with the dis- 

 covery and immediately the edict went 

 forth — we must rival Mr. Higbee's ex- 

 ]:)loit, climb the tree and secure pictures 

 of the young eagles. 



The tree was a long leaf pine of stupen- 

 dous girth and height and the longer we 

 looked at the nest the higher it seemed 

 to be. 



Our sole outfit consisted of a ladder, 

 a piece of string and a little Goerz vest- 

 ]x~)cket camera. The ladder enabled us 

 to reach the first horizontal limb, my com- 

 panion insisting on going up with me as 

 a body guard. After half an hour's diffi- 

 cult and laborious climb we reached the 

 bottom of the nest only to find that our 

 troubles had just begun. Over our heads 

 in the top crotch of the tree was a huge 

 mass of seemingly impassable sticks eight 

 feet high by seven feet in diameter. For 

 nearly two hours we studied and worked 

 on the baffling problem of how to get past 

 this huge mass in order to reach the top 

 of the nest. By dint of much patience I 

 finally succeeded in digging sufficient 

 sticks from the nest to give hand hold and 

 footing with which to ptill myself up on 

 a limb that overlooked the nest. 



During all this time the old birds cir- 

 cled over our heads uttering their pecul- 

 iar sharp whistles and, although threaten- 

 ing, they did not at any time come near 

 enough for attack. 



They were beautiful specimens, their 

 white heads and tails and wonderful ex- 

 panse of wing showing to splendid advan- 

 tage directly over our heads. 



Upon arriving at the top of the nest 



