346 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



birds were counted in one tree." Such sights are unknown in other 

 parts of the range of the bald eagle. Mr. Brewster (1925) once 

 counted 25 in a single day at Lake Umbagog, Maine, and Henry Bes- 

 ton writes to me that in October 1932 he saw an unusual flight of bald 

 eagles over the waters of Damariscotta Lake in Maine; it was a 

 pleasant, warm day with a light northwest wind, favorable for mi- 

 gration. Some 30 of the birds were performing their aerial evolu- 

 tions, and "the effect was rather that of a kind of swarming. They 

 were so high that the white heads and tails of the mature birds could 

 be identified with certainty in only three or four cases. After re- 

 maining in view for about four minutes the whole gathering van- 

 ished, and my impression was that they disappeared aerially in a 

 generally southeasterly direction." Several other local observers 

 noticed the flight and said that they had never seen one like it. 



Eagles have been seen on several occasions to alight on water, float 

 about for several minutes as lightly as a gull, probably in pursuit of 

 fish, and then arise from the surface with no great difficulty. Oc- 

 casionally one may fasten its claws on a fish that is too big for it to 

 lift, which results in a struggle that is unpleasant or even dangerous 

 for the eagle. But the eagle is a powerful bird and can probably lift 

 an object of its own weight ; one has been known to carry a lamb over 

 a distance of 5 miles. 



I have referred to the bald eagle elsewhere as an arrant coward, and 

 so I have always found it; but Dr. Herrick (1929) says that it "will 

 sometimes put up a stiff fight in the defense of its nest, or when hard 

 pressed on the ground." He cites an instance where an eagle, caught 

 in a trap, put up such a vigorous fight that its captors were unable 

 to release it and had to kill it; and "to the end it was fiercely 

 defiant" ; though repeatedly beaten down, "in an instant he was on his 

 feet again, as indomitable as ever", and his courage was "persistent 

 to the last." I heard of another ,eagle, in a similar predicament, that 

 was very docile; it allowed itself to be freed from the trap, without 

 any show of hostility, and then quietly flew away. Only in rare 

 instances have men been attacked at the nest. Major Bendire (1892) 

 mentions a nest at which one of the eagles always threatened him, 

 swooping down at him, "sometimes as close as 20 feet." 



Enemies. — Eagles have no serious enemies except man. Most of 

 the feathered foes that attack them are usually regarded with digni- 

 fied indifference, as if they were only annoying pests. It is a well- 

 known habit of the eagle to attack and rob the osprey, but few people 

 have seen the tables turned. Once, while watching the graceful 

 evolutions of an eagle and an osprey sailing about away up in the 

 sky, as I thought in play, I was surprised to see the osprey swoop 

 downward and almost strike the eagle ; the eagle quickly turned over. 



