Study of the economics of the 

 bahl eagle was prompted hirgely by 

 the need for information to ap- 

 praise the merits of bounty and 

 other legislation afTectino; the eagle 

 in the Territory of Alaska, where 

 it long has been the subject of con- 

 troversy. There also was need for 

 information regarding the influence 

 of the bald eagle in the United 

 States, where its economic status 

 was little undei'stood. 



These demands led to the assign- 

 ment of the senior author to a sinn- 

 mer's field work (May to September 

 1941) in Southeastern Alaska. As- 

 sisted by Game Management Agent 

 Hosea R. Sarber, he collected eagle 

 stomachs and recorded pertinent in- 

 formation. Previous to this, Sarber 

 collected stomachs of bald eagles in 

 1940 and continued to do so during 

 1942 and 1943. The senior author 

 was again in Alaska in 1945 and 

 1946 to study the food habits of 

 hair seals and sea lions and, in the 

 course of that work, he collected 

 additional information and stom- 

 achs of eagles in Southeastern 

 Alaska and at points westward 

 along the coast. The stomachs were 

 later examined by him mainly at 

 the Denver Wildlife Research 

 Laboratory, and by personnel of the 

 Patuxent (Md.) Wildlife Research 

 Refuge, particularly Francis M. 

 Uhler, who assisted in identifying 

 individual food items. At a later 

 date, the junior author tabulated 

 and analyzed the data from stom- 

 ach examinations, reviewed the 

 publislied literature, and prepared 

 the numuscript. 



Two earlier expeditions to the 

 Aleutian Islands (in 1936 and 1937) 



led by Olaus J. Murie, assisted by 

 C. S. Williams, Victor li. Scheffer, 

 and others, collected valuable food- 

 habits data at 28 nests of the bald 

 eagle on a number of the islands in 

 this chain west of the Alaskan Pen- 

 insula. This work, reported on by 

 Murie (1940), has supplied infor- 

 mation concerning the bald eagle in 

 the western part of its range in 

 Alaska. 



To complete the historical record, 

 mention should be made of three 

 earlier publications issued by the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 The first of these appeared in 1893 

 as Bulletin 3 of the Division of 

 Ornithology and Mammalogy, The 

 Hawks and Owls of the United 

 States in Their Relation to Agri- 

 culture, b}^ A. K. Fisher, and con- 

 tained a section devoted to the bald 

 eagle. The second appeared in 1906 

 as Bulletin 27 of the Biological 

 Survey, The North American 

 Eagles and Their Economic Rela- 

 tions, by H. C. Oberholser. Its text 

 was devoted to a discussion of both 

 the bald and the golden eagle. The 

 third was Circular 370, Food Habits 

 of (\)mmon Hawks, by W. I^. ^Ic- 

 Atee. Published in 1935, it con- 

 tained brief suuunaries of the food 

 habits of both tlie golden and the 

 bald eagle. 



Literature on the bald eagle 

 wliich has appeared through other 

 channels is voluminous, and in the 

 assembling of this pa])er judicious 

 use has been made of it. Manuals 

 dealing with the ornithology of sev- 

 eral States have been fruitful 

 sources of information. I'lie most 

 extensive contribution on the habits 

 and ecology of tlie bald eagle pub- 



