70 Wyoming Experiment Station. 



"Although this eagle usually attacks quarry which is easy 

 to secure, Mr. Robert Ridgway shows that it is capable of 

 capturing agile game: 'At Camp 19, on the last-named moun- 

 tains, (East Humboldt, Nev.,) on the 29th of July we were 

 so fortunate as to witness the chase and capture of a Sage- 

 hen (Centrocercus iirophasianas) by a pair of these Eagles. 

 We were standing a few yards in the rear of a tent when our 

 attention was arrested by a rushing noise, and upon looking 

 up the slope of the mountain we saw flying down its wooded 

 side with the rapidity of an arrow a Sage-hen pursued by two 

 Eagles. The Hen was about 20 yards in advance of her pur- 

 suers, exerting herself to the utmost to escape, her wings, 

 from their rapid motion, being scarcely visible. The Eagles 

 in hot pursuit (the larger of the two leading), followed the 

 undulation of the fugitive's course, steadily lessening the dis- 

 tance between them and the object of their pursuit; their wings 

 not moving, except when a slight inclination was necessary to 

 enable them to follow a curve in the course of the fugitive. 

 So intent were they in the chase that they passed within 20 

 yards of us. They had scarcely gone by, however, when the 

 Sage-hen, wearied by her continued exertion, and hoping, 

 probably, to conceal herself among the bushes, dropped to 

 the ground ; but no sooner had she touched it than she was 

 immediately snatched up by the foremost of her relentless pur- 

 suers, who not stopping in its flight, bore the prize rapidly 

 toward the rocky summits of the higher peaks, accompanied by 

 its mate.' (U. S. Geol. Expl. of the Fortieth Parallel, King, 

 Vol. IV, 1877, p. 591.) 



"Numerous sensational stories have appeared from time 

 to time relating to the carrying off of children by Eagles, the 

 great majority of which have originated in the fertile brains 

 of their versatile reporters. There is little doubt that if a 

 hungry Eagle found a young baby unprotected it would carry 

 if off. The statement that babies have been carried away by 

 Eagles and later recovered from the nest uninjured are as 

 ridiculous as they are untrue. 



