tracks around them. Several times 

 eagles were seen feeding on dogfish and 

 as they tore at the carcass one or more 

 Glaucous-winged Gulls stood motionless 

 a few feet away awaiting their turn at 

 the carcass. 



One morning it was noticed that since 

 the previous evening a doe deer had 

 washed up on the beach and been nearly 

 all consumed. Standing here and there 

 around the carcass on drift logs and on 

 the sand were eight eagles and three 

 ravens — their immobility indicating re- 

 pletion — while two Glaucous-winged 

 Gulls pulled at the shreds of meat still 

 adhering to the bones. 



How an abundance of carrion in 

 the form of dogfish left stranded by 

 receding tides on an island off the 

 coast of British Columbia assured 

 the safety of living prey against the 

 attacks of bald eagles also has been 

 pointed out by Munro. His first 

 observations led him to believe that 

 the eagles were feeding on an abun- 

 dance of introduced rabbits and 

 pheasants, but he stated — 



a diligent search revealed no "kills." 

 * * * This seemed the more remarkable 

 in view of the fact that rabbits nearly 

 always were in view hopping across the 

 open mossy glades. Pheasants were 

 more plentiful in this limited area than 

 in any other district of comparable size 

 in British Columbia according to my ob- 

 servations. It seems doubtful that this 

 species could have increasetl to such an 

 extent, from the small stock introduced 

 al)out fifteen years ago, if eagles had 

 preyed upon them consistently. 



A flock of sheep accompanied by a num- 

 ber of young lambs pastured these woods 

 and frequently in their wanderings 



loitered and sometimes lay down within 

 a few yards of trees in which eagles were 

 perched. The eagles paid no attention 

 to the lambs. For the past five years two 

 settlers have run flocks of sheep in this 

 area without suffering any losses through 

 eagles. 



In New B r u n s w i c k, Bruce 

 Wright (1953) endeavored to dis- 

 cover the preference of the bald 

 eagle for several types of carrion 

 by placing various combinations of 

 bait beneath or near favorite roost- 

 ing trees. These were exposed 

 from the middle of June until near 

 the end of August, at which time 

 most of the eagles had left. The 

 remains of black ducks and snow- 

 shoe rabbits were offered along with 

 one or more species of fishes. In no 

 case did the eagles take a duck or a 

 rabbit in preference to the fish. 

 Among the latter were white suck- 

 ers, eastern chain pickerel, chub, 

 perch, and brown bullhead; of 

 these, the latter was accepted on 

 every occasion when it was exposed. 



Vegetable Matter 



The bald eagle ingests vegetable 

 food only by chance or by consum- 

 ing the stomach contents of some 

 vegetarian prey. Through some 

 such circumstances, needles of hem- 

 lock and other conifers, bits of ferns 

 and mosses, small fragments of eel- 

 grass {Zostera)^ and miscellaneous 

 vegetable debris Avere found in the 

 Alaskan eagfle stomachs. 



ATTACKING HUMANS 



Ileports of attacks by- the bald 

 eagle on people are less frequent 

 than those by the golden eagle, al- 

 though in either case the records 



usually have been colored to provide 

 exciting news cop3\ As would be 

 expected, such attacks are most fre- 

 quently reported during periods 



U 



