Fossil remains indicate that the 

 golden eagle has been present in the 

 Western Hemisphere for m a n y 

 thonsands of years (Howard 1930) . 

 Deposits in caves of southern New 

 Mexico (Howard and Miller 1933) 

 sliow that this eagle lived during 

 the Pleistocene period along with 

 the California condor and sage hen, 

 species that have long since disap- 

 peared from the area now knowm as 

 southern New" Mexico. 



Consequently, it may be assumed 

 that the golden eagle is a tolerant 

 and resourceful species and is capa- 

 ble of adjusting itself to a variety 

 of environmental and habitat con- 

 ditions when not subject to uudue 

 interference by man. Yet, it is 

 signiticaut that within the memory 

 of man this bird has been almost 

 eliminated as a breeding species in 

 the mountainous regions of Eastern 

 North America. 



CHARACTERISTICS 



The golden eagle is a bird of 

 many aliases. Conunon names for 

 this species ^ include the American 

 war bird, bird of Jupiter, brown 

 eagle, calumet bird, calumet eagle, 

 Canadian eagle, gray eagle, king of 

 birds, ringtail, ring-tailed eagle, 

 ringtail falcon, royal eagle, war 

 bird, and white-tailed eagle. The 

 same authority records the follow- 

 ing folk names: American eagle, 

 black eagle, black Mexican eagle, 

 black Spanish eagle, dark eagle, 

 grepe, Mexican eagle, mountain 

 eagle, and war eagle. The names 

 jackrabbit eagle and German eagle 

 have also found usage. 



Partly responsible for this va- 

 riety of names is the fact that in its 

 juvenile })lumage the basal half of 

 the tail of the golden eagle is white 

 and white blotches are conspicuous 

 on the under surfaces of the wings. 

 With each molt during the first 

 lew years, these white markings be- 

 come less extensive. When 4 or 5 

 y( ars old, the adult has the appear- 

 ance of a uniformly colored, dark- 



^ W. L. McAtee, Dictionary of vernacular 

 names of North American birds. MS. 



brown or blackish bird (Jollie 

 1947). At close range, however, 

 the ocherous cast to the feathers 

 of the hind neck and the tarsus, 

 feathered to the base of the toes, 

 make identification of the adult 

 simple. 



The golden eagle is a large bird. 

 The average weight of 13 Colorado 

 individuals was 9.1 pounds, the 

 largest bird weighing 12.25 pounds. 

 The average w^ingspread of six 

 eagles taken near Las Cruces, N. 

 Mex., and measured by Cecil Ken- 

 nedy, manager of the San Andres 

 National Wildlife Refuge, was 6 

 feet 81/2 inches. Other published 

 accounts have indicated a wing- 

 spread of 7 feet and more. That 

 the golden eagle is superbly adapted 

 to soaring-gliding flight is empha- 

 sized by the fact that although it 

 weighs approximately the same as 

 the whistling swan it has almost 

 double that bird's wing surface 

 (Poole 1938). 



The golden eagle's stomach ca- 

 pacity also is substantial. Although 

 C. C. Sperry (laboratory notes) de- 

 termined that the maximum weight 



