GOLDEN EAGLE 305 



species attack and kill au antelope. The bird pursued a bunch of the animals, 

 singling out one, and when close enough struck it on the back with its talons, 

 and while clinging there and tearing with claws and beak it at the same time 

 beat its prey's sides with its wings. The men drove close enough to shoot the 

 eagle, and found the antelope to be dead with its back badly torn by the bird. 

 Aiken was also told that an eagle was seen to pounce upon a two-year-old calf 

 near Hartsel but was driven away before any harm was done. Rather large 

 prey for the bird to tackle. 



M. P. Skinner's notes give a somewhat different impression, for 

 he says : "I have made particular inquiries whether these eagles have 

 ever been seen to kill mountain sheep lambs, but not one of our 

 rangers had ever done so. In carrying on my inquiries outside the 

 Park, I heard from one correspondent, previously unknown to me, 

 that he had seen an attack wherein two golden eagles seemed to try 

 to knock the lamb off its cliff, or at least to scare it so that it would 

 fall. This inquiry extended to many parts of the United States and 

 to some localities in Canada." 



Mr. Cameron (1908b) states that R. L. Anderson came upon "three 

 Golden Eagles which were devouring an adult buck antelope" in mid- 

 winter in Montana. He continues : 



Despite the bitterly cold weather, the antelope was warm and limber when 

 found, as it had only been quite recently killed. The eagles had torn a large 

 hole in its back with their terrible talons and were feeding on the kidneys and 

 entrails. Mr. Anderson at once investigated the scene of the struggle and could 

 easily read the gruesome details on the deep, crusted snow. The eagles had 

 obviously stampeded a bunch of antelope, and then cut out a victim by a com- 

 bined attack. Leaving the herd, the latter endeavored to escape down a small 

 right hand draw, but after covering about a hundred yards was beaten back 

 by the eagles. It then crossed a ridge on which the main antelope trail ran at 

 right angles to its own and, hard pressed by its assailants, struggled down a 

 narrow left hand draw to the place where it succumbed. Altogether the ante- 

 lope could barely have covered three hundred yards after the first attack by 

 the eagles. The victim, which had evidently offered a gallant resistance, seems 

 to have made a stand in three places, chiefly where found, but also at points 

 along the trail. The crimson stained snow and thickly strewn hair, added to 

 the well defined wing prints of the flapping and dragging eagles, sufficiently 

 revealed this prairie tragedy. One or more of the birds must have clung 

 tenaciously to their quarry's back and from the deep wounds thus inflicted 

 "the blood had spurted out as when a cow's horns are sawn off." 



He also has much to say about the destruction of prairie dogs by 

 these eagles. One of his pairs that lived near prairie-dog towns 

 always had one or two of these animals in their nest. He says : 



Now the destruction of prairie dogs is of the greatest benefit to the settlers, 

 as in this locality (Knowlton) they have increased to an alarming extent. On 

 some ranches the rodents play havoc with the crops and "dog towns" have en- 

 croached upon miles of good grazing land, reducing it to a desert. It is only 

 necessary to read the forcible paper on "The Prairie Dog of The Great Plains" 

 by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, quickly to realize what an unmitigated pest this 

 animal becomes, and how rapidly its towns spread. As quoted therein, Pro- 



