of these places increased numbers 

 liave been seen. 



4. A brief resume has been pre- 

 sented of bounties and other legis- 

 hition alfecting the bald eagle in 

 Alaska, the United States, and 

 Canada. 



5. As a basis for laboratory food 

 studies, 435 stomachs of Alaskan 

 bald eagles were collected and ex- 

 amined. In addition, there are 

 available data from 31 stomachs col- 

 lected in the United States, and 6 

 stomachs collected in Canada. An- 

 alysis of pellets and food debris 

 found at nests aided in judging the 

 food habits of the bald eagle at 

 points in the States and on the 

 Aleutian Islands in Alaska. 



6. Nearly two-thirds (G5.7 per- 

 cent) of the food of Alaskan eagles 

 was c()ni[)()sed of hsh and of this 

 about one-fourth ( IG.O i^ercent) was 

 salmon. It is the considered opin- 

 ion of the senior author who partici- 

 pated in the collecting of much of 

 this material that most of the 

 salmon was carrion when found by 

 the birds. An appreciable, but mi- 

 certain, portion of the other fish 

 consumed also was dead when lo- 

 cated by the eagles. Although it is 

 not possible to determine statis- 

 tically from the data available the 

 significance of the eagle's feeding on 

 commercially valuable salmon, un- 

 der conditions prevalent at the time 

 of the field studies, we are convinced 

 that the bald eagle was not a serious 

 drain on that fishery resource. This 

 same appraisal applies to the other 

 commercially valuable fish in the 

 eagle's diet. 



7. Less than one-fifth (18.8 per- 

 cent) of the Alaskan eagles' food 



was derived from birds, about half 

 of which were ducks and geese, the 

 remainder being various marine 

 species so plentiful in the north 

 Pacific. Whereas there is no ques- 

 tion that during winter the bald 

 eagle takes a certain toll of migra- 

 tory waterfowl, many of them may 

 have been hunting casualties or 

 birds weakened by the elements. 

 Because of the eagle's decreased 

 numbers along the Atlantic coast, 

 predation on the waterfowl of that 

 area is not serious. Along the North 

 Pacific coast, including the Aleu- 

 tians, the bald eagle preys more 

 heavily on birds, particularly in 

 winter, but even then the pressure 

 is absorbed largely by scoters and 

 sea birds — fulmars, murres, auklets, 

 and puffins — which are exceedingly 

 abundant there. 



8. Stomach examination has sub- 

 stantiated to a limited extent the re- 

 ported predation of the bald eagle 

 on deer, yet the senior author wit- 

 nessed nothing of this kind during 

 the period of his fieldwork in 

 Alaska which included three fawn- 

 ing seasons. The greater incidence 

 of mammal remains in eagle stom- 

 achs taken in May and June (table 

 '2) may be indicative that juve- 

 niles are more vulnerable to eagle 

 attack than are adults, as has 

 been emphasized by field observers. 

 Whether this pressure is significant 

 in the welfare of Alaskan deer was 

 not determined by this study; but 

 whatever its effect, it would be re- 

 stricted largely to the coastal areas 

 where the bald eagle maintains its 

 greatest numbers. There is no evi- 

 dence that the bald eagle exerts an 

 appreciable effect on the population 



47 



