College of Fisheries at the Univer- 

 sity of Washington may be restated. 



Much is said by certain people of the 

 ravages amongst the salmon of certain 

 animals as the seal, sea lion, bear, eagle, 

 kingfisher, crane, cluck, loon, and hawk. 

 While in the aggregate the ravages of 

 these animals are considerable, they are 

 not a drop in the bucket as compared with 

 the direct or indirect ravages of man and 

 his agencies. 



Pollack and cod. — Nearly equal- 

 ing the salmon as a favorite food 

 of Alaskan bald eagles are the pol- 

 lack and cod (Gadidae). These 

 fish were present in 101 of the 325 

 stomachs examined that contained 

 fish and comprised nearly 17 per- 

 cent of the volmne. The Alaska 

 pollack, or whiting {Theragra 

 chalcogramTna) , was dominant in 57 

 stomachs and the Pacific cod 

 {Gadus macrocephalus) , in 27 

 stomachs, was next. 



The seasonal pattern of the bald 

 eagle's feeding on these fish was ir- 

 regular but greater quantities were 

 taken during the colder months 

 (table 2). In marked contrast with 

 the abundant references to the bald 

 eagle's relation to salmon is the al- 

 most complete absence of recorded 

 information on its relation to the 

 pollack and the cod. This is true 

 despite the fact that these two fishes 

 comprise approximately the same 

 proportion of the bald eagle's food 

 as the salmon, on the basis of stom- 

 ach examinations. Two possible 

 explanations present themselves, 

 one being that predation by the 

 eagle on living codfish seldom comes 

 to the immediate attention of com- 

 mercial fishermen and the other 

 (which appears plausible) is that 

 much of the codfish was picked up 



as carrion on the beaches. Never- 

 theless, the Alaska pollack often 

 feeds near the water surface and at 

 such times may be captured alive 

 by the bald eagle. 



Rockfishes and scovpionfjshes. — 

 The varied group of fishes (Cata- 

 phracti) under which are classified 

 the rockfishes, scorpionfishes, scul- 

 pins, sea ravens, and others, ap- 

 peared in 83 stomachs, and com- 

 prised 9.4 percent of the food of the 

 eagles examined — the bulk of these 

 fish being taken during the first half 

 of the year (table 2) . No less than 

 eight different genera (mainly scul- 

 pins) were identified. Conspicuous 

 among these were the widely dis- 

 tributed red sculpin, or Irish lord 

 {H emilepidotus) , in 19 stomachs, 

 rockfishes of the genus Sebastodes^ 

 in 11, and the smooth sculpin {Lep- 

 tocottus a,rniatus)^ in 13. These 

 fishes, like the cod, were taken 

 largely during the first half of the 

 calendar year. 



Although it appears logical that 

 deep-water fishes such as rockfishes 

 and sculpins would fall prey to the 

 bald eagle only after they had 

 floated to the surface or drifted to 

 the beach as carrion, the senior 

 author witnessed numerous in- 

 stances in which these fishes, as well 

 as flounders, were taken alive by 

 bald eagles. Sculpins often were 

 isolated in exposed shallow pools by 

 the receding tide whereupon they 

 became easy prey not only for the 

 eagles but for the innumerable gulls 

 as well. 



Flounders and other -flat-fishes. — 

 The flounders and flatfishes (Heter- 

 osomata) in 57 stomachs, comprise 

 a group equal to the Cataphracti in 



29 



