the fox farmer is in a position to 

 protect his property against eagle 

 depredations without fear of vio- 

 lating the law. 



OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Reports, obviously gross misrep- 

 resentations but given wide public- 

 ity and credence, have long been 

 associated with the bald eagle's rela- 

 tion to the common domestic ani- 

 mals. For example, an eagle in 

 Maine was reported to have carried 

 off a 30-pound pig ; another in Cali- 

 fornia to have flown away with a 50- 

 pound lamb; and still others are 

 said to have carried calves in their 

 talons. Another aspect of the case, 

 frequently exaggerated, concerns 

 the digestive capacity of the bald 

 eagle. A news item in a southwest- 

 ern paper carried the statement of a 

 rancher that an eagle ate 40 pounds 

 of flesh at one meal. Even a tenth 

 of this amount would have exceeded 

 the facts. 



Stomach examinations have 

 thrown little light on the relation 

 of the bald eagle to farm livestock, 

 including poultry. It is apparent 

 that the relation of the bald eagle 

 to such creatures will have to be 

 determined largely from published 

 records. The records, however, are 

 confused by the fact that observers 

 often fail to distinguish between 

 golden and bald eagles. Since 

 much livestock is raised in sections 

 where the golden eagle is prevalent, 

 it is apparent that many of the 

 stock-killing episodes reported are 

 chargeable to that bird. Neverthe- 

 less, tliere are some records of stock- 

 killing for which the bald eagle is 

 to blame. 



One of the 31 bald eagle stomachs 

 collected in earlier years in the 

 United States contained the re- 

 mains of a himb, the origin of which 

 was not clear. Three of six bald 

 eagles collected in Canada disclosed 

 tlie fiesh and wool of domestic 

 sheep. These were obtained on a 

 coastal island of British Columbia 

 during the month of March. 



Reports from the foothill coun- 

 try east of the Sacramento Valley 

 (Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale 

 1930) indicate that bald eagles for- 

 merly visited the area in substan- 

 tial numbers in late winter and 

 early spring and that in certain 

 3^ears they killed many lambs. 



Near Blackfoot, Idaho, in Febru- 

 ary 1945, a Federal game manage- 

 ment agent was asked to investigate 

 the shooting of a bald eagle by a 

 ranclier. The circumstances, sup- 

 ported by the body of the dead eagle 

 and that of the lamb which it had 

 killed, verified the rancher's conten- 

 tion that the eagle had killed the 

 lamb. 



The occasional tale of eagles 

 carrying oft' calves should hs rele- 

 gated to the category of fables. 

 But the molesting of cattle, at times 

 resulting in serious injury, is within 

 the capability of both bald and 

 golden eagles. The rarity of such 

 events, however, make them of no 

 significance in determining the 

 overall economic status of the bald 

 eagle. A single incident of this 

 type reported (in correspondence) 

 by a former supervisor of the Col- 

 ville National Forest in Washing- 

 ton reveals the tactics used by the 

 bird. The attack was made upon 

 a 2-year-old Hereford heifer and 



40 



