338 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



field corn, and often still bearing their yellow ears, were commonly a late 

 addition, and all the more noticeable when draped over the sides of the nest. 

 A farmer who was working in his field at the back of the tower said that on 

 February first of that year an eagle came down within two rods of where he 

 was standing, seized a stalk of his corn and bore it away ; and a number of 

 years ago an eagle was seen at Vermilion by one of my students making for 

 its nest with twenty-five or more feet of rope dangling from its talons. 



The bald eagle probably nested at one time over much of New 

 England, but there are no recent authentic records of its nesting in 

 the three southern States though it probably still breeds sparingly 

 in the wilder portions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. 

 Eagles are often seen in spring in southern Massachusetts, especially 

 on Cape Cod, and occasionally at other seasons. Many rumors have 

 come to me of eagles' nests, and I have spent much time in investigat- 

 ing such reports, but always without success. I suppose that the 

 eagles we see on Cape Cod come from the coast of Maine or from 

 inland points in northern New England, as the distance is not great 

 for so strong a flier. 



The only New England nests I have seen were on the coast of 

 Maine. Between April 20 and 24, 1900, Owen Durfee and I visited 

 five nests in this region. In the heavily wooded portion of Arrow- 

 sic Island, near the mouth of the Kennebec River, we found two; 

 one, about 60 feet up in a tall white pine, was evidently an old nest, 

 but the other, to which I climbed, might have been occupied later, as 

 we had seen eagles in the vicinity and Mr. Durfee had taken an egg 

 from it the previous year. It was near the top of a large white pine 

 on the side of a hill, from which the eagles could have a fine view ; it 

 was about 50 feet from the ground and was about 6 feet high and 

 5 feet broad. On the following day, April 21, we were guided to an 

 occupied nest a few miles back of Phippsburg, Maine. This was in 

 a large white pine, about TO feet tall and 26 inches in diameter at a 

 height of 5 feet, that stood in a large open space where most of the 

 large trees had been cut off. The male eagle flew fom the nest tree 

 when we were about 100 yards away, but the female did not leave 

 the nest until we rapped the tree; both birds circled about at a safe 

 distance, screaming or whistling weakly, but soon flew away and 

 were seen or heard only occasionallj^ in the distance. The nest rested 

 on two large horizontal branches against the trunk, and its flat top 

 was 52 feet above the ground. It was made entirely of large sticks, 

 many of them an inch and a half thick ; the nest was evidently an old 

 one for the material in the lower part of it was well rotted ; it meas- 

 ured 6 feet high and 6 feet wide; the center of the nest was well 

 lined with dried grasses to a depth of 2 or 3 inches, making a cir- 

 cular cavity about 17 inches across and hollowed about 5 or 6 inches 

 below the outer rim of the nest ; on the top of the nest were a few 



