274 HISTORY OF THE 



the skj. It is gifted with extraordinaiy sight, and swoops 

 down upon its prey with nnerring certainty. A ferocious mon- 

 arch; a tiger among birds. It preys upon Grouse, Ducks, Geese, 

 Swans, young fawns, lambs, prairie dogs, rabbits, ground squir- 

 rels, etc. Some writers state that when pressed with hunger 

 they feed upon carrion. While I know this to be the case with 

 the Bald Eagle, I think this proud bird would starve rather than 

 feed upon a putrid carcass. 



I kept one of these birds (a female) over a year in confine- 

 ment, feeding her chiefly upon fresh beef; if the least bit tainted 

 she would not touch it, neither would she eat a fresh piece ac- 

 cidentally dropped upon the ground from her claws. A Bald 

 Eagle, in an adjoining pen, would readily eat meat in any stage, 

 and gladly take the pieces rejected by the more noble bird. I 

 tried hard to subdue her, or to be at least on friendly terms, but 

 failed. I know that the birds have been occasionally partially 

 tamed, but this one was untamable, and maintained, during her 

 confinement, the same wild, defiant, ferocious spirit exhibited at 

 her capture. She was especially furious when a dog entered 

 the yard. I saw her pounce upon, pick up and take to her 

 perch a large house cat that ventured within her prison for bits 

 of meat. The grasp was so powerful that life was instantly 

 crushed out — not a struggle, and only a slight quiver of the 

 muscles noticable. I have often heard them scream loudly in 

 their mountain home, but my bird was sullen and mute. 



Their nests are enormous structures of sticks, etc., usually 

 placed on rocky shelves of inaccessible cliffs, occasionally in 

 trees. May 5th, 1884, I found, at Julian, California, a nest 

 placed in and near the top of a tall pine tree — a huge platform 

 structure composed of sticks and twigs, and lined sparingly with 

 grass, moss, and a few feathers. Eggs two or three, 2.90x2.25; 

 white, occasionally unmarked, but usually spotted and blotched 

 with various shades of drab to reddish brown, and a few faint 

 purple shell markings; in form, broadly subspherical. 



Genus HALI^ETUS Savigny. 

 "Form robust, aud organizatiou powerful, as m Aquila; size large. Bill 

 very large, usually somewhat inflated, the chord of the arch of the culmen more 



