8o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



ably does even more damage by girdling young 

 fruit trees. In 1892 considerable areas in south- 

 eastern Scotland were overrun by meadow mice 

 and a large amount of property was destroyed 

 during the ' vole plague.' Just such invasions 

 are to be expected in any country where preda- 

 cious mammals and birds are reduced to a mini- 

 mum in the supposed interest of game preserva- 

 tion. This wholly upsets nature's balance, and 

 the injurious rodents are left practically without 

 an enemy to control their increase. Attempts 

 have been made in some of our States to reduce 

 the number of Hawks and Owls by offering 

 bounties for their heads, but fortunately the 

 work has not been carried far enough to do the 

 harm that has resulted from the long-continued 

 efforts of gamekeepers in Great Britain. 



" The Ferruginous Rough-leg is as fully bene- 

 ficial as its relative, though the character of its 

 food differs somewhat. In many parts of the 

 country inhabited by it, meadow mice, which play 

 such an important part in the economy of the 

 other bird, are scarce or wanting, but are re- 

 placed by nearly as destructive rodents, the 

 ground squirrels. Upon these this large and 

 handsome Hawk wages continuous warfare, and 

 great is the service it performs in keeping their 

 numbers in check. Rabbits, prairie dogs, and 

 occasionally pouched gophers are eaten. It is 

 humiliating to think how many of these two 

 noble Hawks are ruthlessly murdered, and to 

 reflect that legislators put bounties on their 

 heads to satisfy the ignorant prejudices of their 

 coH'^tituents." R. I. Brasher. 



BALD EAGLE 



Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus {Liiincnis) 



A, O. V. Xumber 352 



Other Names. — White-headed Eagle ; White-headed 

 Sea Eagle; American Eagle; Black Eagle; Gray Eagle; 

 Washington Eagle. The last three names refer to the 

 immature Bald Eagle. 



General Description. — Length : male, 30 to 35 inches ; 

 female, 34 to 43 inches. Spread of wings, 6'/J to 7-)4 

 feet. Plumage, dark brown. Tarsus, hare for an inch 

 or more above base of toes: five outer primaries deeply 

 notched on inner webs. 



Color. — Adults: Entire head, neck, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail, white; rest of plumage, dark brown, 

 many of body feathers with paler margins, and the 

 wing-feathers nearly black; bill, cere, and feet, bright 

 yellow; iris, pale yellow or yellowish-white. Immature, 

 FIRST year: Plumage, mainly black; no white on head, 

 only small freckles of white on inner webs of tail- 

 feathers, but all body feathers, snowy white below the 

 surface; bill, black; feet, yellow; iris, brown. Im- 



See Color I'lates 43, 49 



.\'.\TURE. Second and Third Ye.ars: Head and neck, 

 mainly black, the long narrow feathers at the back of 

 the neck, tipped with brown or gray ; tail, black, the 

 inner webs of most of the feathers, sprinkled or mottled 

 with whitish ; body feathers, above and below, mixed 

 brown, black, and gray, sometimes streaked and mar- 

 gined with pure white; bill, dark horn color; cere 

 and feet, yellow ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In large trees from 20 to 

 90 feet above ground, sometimes in niches of rocky 

 cliffs ; a large coarsely built aflFair of good-sized sticks, 

 roots, twigs, seaweed, bits of turf, vine or plant stalks 

 and lined with roots or grass. Eggs : 2, rarely 3. ivory 

 white with a granular surface. 



Distribution. — United States to southern Lower 

 California and northern Me.xico, breeding in suitable 

 location throughout its range ; rare and local in Cali- 

 fornia and in arid interior. 



In flight or at rest the Bald Eagle is majestic, 

 its white head and tail lending dignity to its im- 

 posing form. The Eagle as a type has inspired 

 manv literary tributes. Tennyson's two stanzas 

 refer presumably to the Gray Sea Eagle of 

 Europe, which sometirnes visits the western 

 hemisphere, but they might well have been ad- 

 dressed to our Bald Eagle : 



He clasps the crags with crooked hands; 

 Close to the sun in lonely lands, 

 Ring'd with the azure world, he stands. 



The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; 

 He watches from his mountain walls, 

 And like a thunder-bolt he falls. 



In prose perhaps nothing finer has been written 

 than Mr. Burroughs's expression : 



" He draws great lines across the sky ; he sees 

 the forests like a carpet beneath him ; he sees the 

 hills and valleys as folds and wrinkles in a many 

 colored tapestry ; he sees the river as a silver 

 belt connecting remote horizons. We climb 

 mountain-peaks to get a glimpse of the spectacle 

 that is hourly spread out beneath hiiu. Dignity, 

 elevation, repose, are his. T would have my 

 thoughts take as wide a sweep. I would be as 

 far removed from the petty cares and turmoils 

 of this noisy and blustering world." (Far and 

 Near.) 



