SOUTHERN BALD EAGLE 325 



and fish scales, and the ground in tlie immediate vicinity was littered 

 with the remnants of their food and the excrement of the young." 

 The other was a massive structure at least 6 feet high and 5 feet in 

 diameter ; he saw it fully 2 miles away. 



Robert Ridgway (1877) had a nest shown to him in a very unusual 

 situation on an island in Pyramid Lake, Nov. : "This nest was placed 

 inside an oven-like cave about half-way up the side of the perpen- 

 dicular rocks which formed this portion of the shore. The entrance 

 was about fifteen feet from the top of the rock, and the same distance 

 from the water, so it was inaccessible by any means then at command ; 

 but it could be plainly seen by looking through a crevice in the top of 

 the rock. This nest was a huge bed of coarse sticks laid on the floor 

 of the cave, and scattered about were the bones of numerous animals 

 which were carried as food to the young." 



I saw a nest in Texas about 50 feet up in a big live oak. Other 

 nests have been found there in pecans and in mesquites 10 or 15 feet 

 high (Lloyd, 1887). On Santa Margarita Island, Lower California, 

 Walter E. Bryant (1890) found a nest in a giant cactus. 



Mr. Baynard told me that some pairs of eagles do not breed every 

 year ; they may repair the nest and remain in the vicinity all through 

 the season without laying any eggs. This was true of one pair that 

 he and I watched. If the first set of eggs is taken, the eagle often 

 will lay a second set after an interval of four weeks or more. Mr. 

 Baynard says this happens in about half the cases, according to his 

 experience. In the one such case that I noted the interval was about 

 two months, and the second set was laid in the same nest. But often 

 another nest is used. 



Eggs. — Two eggs almost invariably make up a full set for the bald 

 eagle, sometimes only one, and rarely three ; in two or three cases four 

 eggs have been found in a nest, but these may have been the product 

 of two females. The eggs vary in shape from rounded-ovate to ovate, 

 the former predominating. The shell is rough or coarsely granulated. 

 The color is dull white or pale bluish white and unmarked, though 

 often nest stained. Very rarely an ^gg shows a few slight traces of 

 pale brown or buff markings. The measurements of 50 eggs from 

 Florida average 70.5 by 54,2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 78.8 by 56.2, 71.1 by 57.6, and 58.1 by 47 millimeters. 

 The eggs are ridiculously small for so large a bird. (Compare the 

 relative sizes of the eggs of the ruddy duck, the sandpipers, or the 

 hummingbirds.) Consequently the little eaglet requires a long time 

 to develop. 



Young. — The period of incubation is about 35 days, according to the 

 most careful observers, though it has been otherwise estimated. Both 

 parents assist in incubation and in the care of the young. Mr. 



