82 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



GOLDEN EAGLE 

 Aquila chrysaetos (Liniitrus) 



A. O. U. Number 349 ^^<.•e Tolor Plate 49 



Other Names.— Ring-tailed Eagle ; Black Eagle ; 

 Mountain Eagle; Gray Eagle; Brown Eagle. 



General Description. — Length, about 3 feet ; spread 

 of wings, 7 to 7J/2 feet. Plumage, dark brown. Legs 

 feathered to the toes. 



Color. — Adults; Dark brown with a faint purplish 

 gloss becoming lighter on wing-coverts, tail- and thigh- 

 feathers ; feathers of back of head, nape, and sides of 

 neck with separate, spear-head-shaped tips, of a deef 

 golden brown; primaries, secondaries, and tail, more 

 blackish ; tail, white or grayish at base ; bill, bluish 

 horn ; legs, cere. gape, and line over eye, yellow ; claws, 

 black ; iris, brown. Young : Darker and larger than 

 adults ; tail, white at very base and with a broad black 

 terminal bar ; golden-brown of back of head, etc., less 

 apparent and duller ; otherwise as in adults. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually on inaccessible 

 cliffs, sometimes in large trees — sycamores, pines, or 



oaks; constructed of good-sized sticks and lined with 

 hay, twigs, or green grass. The birds return every year 

 to the same site, adding material each season until the 

 nest sometimes becomes 4 or 5 feet in diameter and 

 nearly the same height. Eggs: 2, white, beautifully 

 marked with bold spots, specks, and blotches of chest- 

 nut, sienna, and shades of purple, more heavily at large 

 end. 



Distribution. — Northern part of northern hemi- 

 sphere ; in the Old World south to north Africa and 

 the Himalaya ; in North .America from northern Alaska, 

 northwestern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, and north- 

 ern Ungava south to middle Lower California, central 

 Mexico, western Texas, South Dakota, Manitoba, 

 southern Keewatin, central Ontario, New Hampshire, 

 Maine and Nova Scotia and in the .'Mleghenies to 

 southwestern North Carolina; less common east of the 

 Mississippi. 



The aerie was in the top of a storm-battered old 

 pine on the east slope of the Cascades. It looked 

 impossible to climb, yet the going up was not so 

 hard. Excitement led me on. As I climbed, the 

 task became more precarious. My heart beat 

 wilder each time the pair of Bald Eagles circled 

 near. I finally straddled the big limb below the 

 nest and worked a hazardous way through five 

 feet of dead limbs and debris. 



I had read so many stories of fierce Eagles that 

 I half persuaded myself I should be attacked, but 

 I wasn't. After a careful study extending over 

 several years, I have found that forty-eight such 

 cases out of every fifty may be set down as false 

 in the beginning. Investigation will show the 

 forty-ninth is without truth, and there might pos- 

 sibly be a slight cause for the fiftieth. I have the 

 records of over a hundred nests of the Bald and 

 Golden Eagles that have been robbed and in not 

 a single case did the birds put up a fight. 



The pair of Eagles were winding slowly arotmd 

 the bhie dome of the sky. I moved the young- 

 sters over and climbed in beside them to visit. 

 Here were the nestlings of noble birth. Of the 

 millions of people who daily see our national 

 emblem on the coins and arms of our country, 

 few know anything of the Eagle as a bird. Few 

 know of the home-life and habits. Fewer still 

 have ever seen an Eagle wild and free. 



In North America, we have two Eagles that 

 are of general distribution : the Bald Eagle, found 

 in the wilder places throughout the United States, 

 and the Golden Eagle, now restricted almost en- 



tirely to the mountainous regions of the West. 

 The term " bald " originated from the white 

 head which is an unmistakable mark of identity 

 of the full-grown bird and at a distance gives the 

 impression of baldness. 



The Bald Eagle is much the same general color 

 as the Golden Eagle up to the time it is three 

 years old. In the time of Audubon, these young 

 Bald Eagles were considered a separate species. 

 At the age of three years, the Bald Eagle attains 

 maturity and the white feathers appear on the 

 head and neck. To distinguish one species from 

 the other, look at the lower joint of the leg. 

 If this is covered with feathers down to the toes, 

 it is a Golden Eagle; if the leg is naked, it is a 

 Bald Eagle. 



In some ways, the Golden Eagle is a nobler 

 bird than his white-headed cousin. The Bald 

 Eagle is a resident along the big rivers, on the 

 shores of lakes and on the islands of the sea. 

 Its favorite food is fish. It often catches these, 

 or compels an Osprey to pay tribute. In some 

 places, it lives almost entirely on the dead fish 

 it finds along the shores. The Golden Eagle is 

 more of a hunter. It has seldom been known to 

 touch dead animals. 



In the coast mountains of California, we 

 finally found an aerie of a Golden Eagle that 

 could be photographed. To the branch of a tall 

 sycamore bending out toward the valley, the 

 Eagles had carried a cartload of sticks and made 

 a platform five feet across. 



We made a close studv of the castle in the 



