THE BALD EAGLE. 521 



child was more scared than liurt, since the Eagle's claws had caught only in 

 the folds of its dress. 



The Bald Eagle is here eminently acjuatic in its habits, and might, con- 

 ceivabh', if left alone, ha\-e developed all the seamanship of the Osprey. 

 Dr. Cooper sa\s : "I ne\er saw it dive for a tisli * * * but have seen it 

 settle for a moment on tlie water to secure a dead lish, closing its wings" ; 

 while Suckle\- quotes ]\Ir. Geo. Gibbs as affirming that he has seen the Bald 

 Eagle alight in deep water and rest upon it "like a gull." Much time was 

 spent b\- the bird in an earlier day upon the beach where it moved about freely 

 in company with gulls, ra\'ens, and crows, which were quite unconcerned at 

 its presence. The Eagle occasional!}' does ijatnjl duty ashore, after the 

 fashion of hawk or vulture, Init spends more time as a sentinel, in some com- 

 manding position c^n cliff or tree. The eagle eye is proverbial, little happening 

 along the beach for a mile either wa}" of \\diich the bird does not take account. 



"Nidification begins earl}". In Florida and other parts i;)f the Gulf coast 

 eggs are sometimes deposited in the earl}- part of November, but generally 

 from the 1st to the 15th of December. In the Middle States they nest occa- 

 sionally in the beginning of February. * * * Usuall}' they do not com- 

 mence t(i lay until March, and correspondingly later as the}- adxance north- 

 ward" (Bendire). 



The nests, which in this section are alwa}'s placed well up in g(_)ud-sized 

 trees, are repaired and added to year by year until the\- come tri be immense 

 and historic structures. Not only are the trees in which they are built usually 

 hard to climb, but it is often difficult, or well nigh impossible, to pass the 

 bulging sides of the nest so as to obtain access to the eggs themselves. 



Both sexes share the duty of inculiation, which lasts about a month, and 

 the two liirds are sometimes to be seen tDgether at the nest, the one standing, 

 and the other squatting ujion the eggs. The eggs are two, rarely three, pure 

 white or bluish white, and are laid at inter\-als of two or three days. There 

 is often (|uite a discrepanc}- in the size of the eggs, the larger presumably 

 being laifl first. If the eggs are destroyed the birds will not nest again until 

 the following year. The young, when hatched, remain in the nest three or 

 four months before the\- are able to fl}-, and even then sometimes require 

 considerable urging on the part of their ambitious parents 



It is evident that those who live in the \-icinitv of an Eagle's nest must 

 become ver\- much attached U> these stately birds, and \-iew their comings and 

 goings with unfailing interest. In some sections the protection of the local 

 eagles is a matter of pride, and any one who attempted to molest one of them 

 would get into serious trouble with its human neighbors. This is quite as it 

 should be. The people of this State could far better afford to reimburse the 

 owners of poultry and sheep for some trifling losses inflicted upon them, than 

 they could to be deprived of the majestic presence of these synibolic birds. 



