434 BIRDS OF ARCTIC AMERICA MACFARLANE. 



neighborhood of the nests. All of these but one contained two eggs, 

 while the oviduct of that particular female contained the other. In 

 confinement, even when taken young, they are fierce and perha^ie un- 

 tamable, though they readily eat the food given to them, whether it be 

 fish or meat. One of four, thus reared at Fort Anderson a year or two 

 later, ferociously killed two of her partners. They kept their plumage 

 in a very cleanly condition, and they always grasped their food in the 

 talons of either leg and tore it with their beaks. After feeding they in- 

 variably removed any blood or other impurities which might have ad- 

 hered to thebeak by scratching it with their talons or rubbing it against 

 the bars of their cage. The eagles in question were kept in a cage in 

 the dwelling house during the colder months of the winter, but in April 

 we had them removed to a larger one outside, where they exercised 

 themselves by jumping off and on their roosting poles, and they also 

 seemed much interested in all that they observed taking ])laee within 

 the Fort Square. It is, however, remarkable in this connection that the 

 parent birds may be said to have never given any trouble while their 

 nests were being robbed. Mice, lemmings, and marmots form no unim- 

 portant item in the diet of this eagle, one of which was once seen hunt- 

 ing Parry's Spermophile or Marmot, near Langton Harbor, Franklin 

 Bay. 



352. Haliaeetus leiicocephalus (Linn.)- Bald Eagle. 



Several nests were found with eggs and young in them on Lockhart 

 and Anderson Rivers. They were built on high trees close to the river 

 banks and composed of dried sticks and branches lined with deer hair, 

 mosses, hay, and other soft materials. There were from two to three 

 eggs in each nest. In one instance the parents made hostile demon- 

 strations when their nest was being robbed, but they generally flew 

 away and kept at a safe distance. They are not very numerous, and 

 it is doubtful if any breed to the northward of Fort Anderson. 



354a. Falco rusticolus gyrfalco (Linn.). Gyrfalcon. 



This gyrfalcon is common in the wooded country on both sides of 

 Anderson River. Over twenty nests were secured, and with only two 

 exceptions, which were built, one on a ledge of rocks and the other 

 against the side of a deep ravine, they were found close to or near the 

 top of the tallest trees in the neighborhood. The}" were similar in com- 

 position, but suialler in size than those of the Bald Eagle; and while 

 the number of eggs was either three or four, their contents were fre- 

 quently found in differing stages of development. Both parents invari- 

 ably manifested much anger and excitement when interfered with or 

 even distantly approached. They made a great noise, and, indeed, 

 oftener than once their folly in coming to scream loudly over our heads 

 attracted attention to some that would otherwise have escaped notice. 

 The earliest date of finding a nest was IMay 10. The eggs were quite 



