gle record of a sea lion no doubt 

 represented feeding on carrion. 



Xorman Criddle (IDlT), a keen 

 observer of wildlife generally in 

 Canada, believed that both golden 

 and bald eagles exerted a marked 

 suppressive ejffect on varying hares 

 in the North. At the other ex- 

 treme of the bald eagle's range, 

 Florida, Avhere the bird is essen- 

 tially a fish eater, O. E. Baynard 

 (correspondence) noted that, at 

 more tlian 1,000 nests examined, 

 rabbits comprised at least 20 per- 

 cent of the food remains. 



Bald-eagle pellets collected ad- 

 jacent to tlie marshes of Chesapeake 

 Bay in Maryland are characterized 

 by an abundance of muskrat re- 

 mains. The muskrat also appears 

 in the diet of eagles living near the 

 marshes of the Sandusky River in 

 northern Ohio where Dr. Herrick 

 (1932) found at least 14 muskrat 

 traps in the ruins of an old eagle 

 nest that had been destroyed. 



On western plains, the bald eagle, 

 like the golden, may feed exten- 

 sively on rabbits during winter. 

 This fact was brought out by studies 

 of the senior author in Kansas. ( See 

 page 25.) 



Sea otter. — Some apprehension 

 has been felt regarding the possible 

 hazard of the bald eagle to sea 

 otters, particularly in the Aleu- 

 tians, where these marine furbear- 

 ers have increased in numbers. 

 Murie (1940) encountered reports 

 among the natives that eagles kill 

 young sea otters and lie was in- 

 clined to believe that sonje of these 

 accounts were coi-rect, but he was 

 unable to Icani the frequency of 

 such incidents. He was strongly of 



tlie oi)inion that much of this food 

 was carrion, since carcasses of sea 

 otters not infrequently are washed 

 up on the beach where they would be 

 available to both foxes and eagles. 



Domestic Animals 



BLUE FOX 



Of all the domesticated animals 

 on which the bald eagle has been 

 accused of preying in Alaska, the 

 blue fox has aroused the greatest 

 concern, at least in earlier days. 

 Predation on blue foxes is discussed 

 at this point, even though many of 

 the conditions under which these 

 fur animals were formerly raised 

 could hardly be considered do- 

 mestic. 



During the summer of 1941, the 

 senior author had an opportunity 

 to interview numerous fox farmers 

 and to appraise the relation of bald 

 eagles to blue foxes in Southeastern 

 Alaska. Practically without excep- 

 tion tlu)se persons interviewed ac- 

 cused eagles of preying on their 

 stock and several of them related 

 acts of predation they had seen. 

 While the accuracy of some of these 

 accounts is unquestionable, it is be- 

 lieved that the owner, knowingly or 

 not, is likely to exaggerate the loss 

 involved. Under the limitations of 

 fieldwoi-k, it was impossible to in- 

 terview more than a small part of 

 the fox farmers of Alaska or to 

 visit more than a few of the islands 

 on wliich these furbearing animals 

 were i-aised. Consequently, the con- 

 clusions reached were based on the 

 assumption tliat the sample ap- 

 praised was representative of the 

 whole. 



38 



