184 Birds of Colorado 



up to about 10,000 foot, but also in the plains as well, while in winter 

 it is chiefly met with on the plains. The following are the chief locaUties 

 noticed : Estes Park, rare (Kellogg), Breckenridge, breeding to 10,000 

 feet (Carter), Manitou, September (Beckham), near Fort Lyon, breeding 

 (Thorns apttd Cooke), near Coventry in winter (Warren). It is 

 not represented in the Aiken collection, but there is a mounted 

 specimen in the State Historical collection at Denver, taken by 

 L. Morse, at Orchard, in Morgan co., on December 24th, 1904, and a 

 fine pair in immature di'ess, killed near Denver by T. Dines and 

 R. Borcherdt, are mounted in the Colorado Museum of Natural 

 History. 



Habits. — The Bald or White-headed Eagle is the 

 National Bird of the United States, to which dignity- 

 it was elevated June 20th, 1782. In its young dress 

 it is sometimes called the Bird of Washington. It is 

 essentially a fish-eater, and is therefore more at home 

 on the sea-coast and along the banks of the larger rivers 

 than in a dry country Hke Colorado. It also preys on 

 water-fowl and mammals, and has been known to carry 

 off in its talons a lamb of the same weight as itself, a 

 distance of five miles. Its voice is a loud, harsh scream, 

 and its flight is powerful. 



Little has been noticed about its nesting habits m 

 Colorado. Captain Thorne found a nest near Fort 

 Lyon, June 12th, contaming two young birds, while 

 Carter found it breeding near Breckenridge. As a rule 

 it builds in trees, though sometimes on ledges in caiion 

 walls. The nest is added to year after year and is a 

 massive structure of sticks, like that of the Golden 

 Eagle. The eggs, usually two in number, are white, 

 though often nest-stained ; they are ovate in shape and 

 average 2*8 x 2"1. 



Genus FALCO. 



Bill rather strong, with a prominent, tooth-like projection on the 

 cutting-edge of the upper mandible ; nostrils circular, with a central 

 bony tubercle ; wing long and pointed, the ninth and eighth primaries 



