Anioiia- the reptiles reported 

 taken by the golden eagles are rat- 

 tlesnakes, vai'ious nonpoisonous 

 snakes, terrapins, chnck\A alias, and 

 other iguanas. There are also two 

 references in the literature and one 

 in the field notes of golden eas'les 

 eating frogs. 



Domestic animals among the 

 eagle's prey include cattle, sheep, 

 goats, pigs, dogs, and cats, while 

 domestic fowl eaten include ducks, 

 geese, chickens, and turkeys. 



STOMACH ANALYSES 



The stomaclis and/or crops of 

 102 golden eagles have been ex- 

 amined in the laboratories of the 

 United States Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and the former Biological 

 Survey. This material was col- 

 lected under diverse conditions in 

 numerous States and in Alaska over 

 a series of years (table 1). In gen- 

 eral, it reflects relatively modern 

 conditions, 81 of the stomachs hav- 

 ing been collected since 1920. Al- 

 thouo-h a l)ird with such diversified 



food habits as the golden eagle can- 

 not be judged adequately by a 

 mathematical presentation of data 

 from such a limited series, a digest 

 of findings is presented in the ajj- 

 pended tables. Table 1 sets forth 

 the areas in which the stomach ma- 

 terial was taken and table 2 gives 

 the results of tlie examinations. 



Carrion, eaten largely during the 

 colder months, had its origin mainly 

 in the carcasses of larger mammals, 

 both wild and domestic. The inter- 

 pretation of carrion w^as made 

 largely on the basis of the circum- 

 stances observed at the time the 

 stomachs were collected. Observa- 

 tions made at that time often indi- 

 cated that the birds Avere shot while 

 feeding on a carcass, or were 

 trapped by carrion used as a lure. 

 The carrion nature of flesh cannot 

 as a rule be determined by labora- 

 tory examination and reliance must 

 therefore be placed on observations 

 made in the field. 



There will be doubtful cases in 

 which the evidence is not clear and 



Table 1. — Locations and months in which 102 stomachs and crops of golden eagles were 



collected 



' Collected during the periods Jan. 1-Mar. 15 in 1940 and 1941 at a game farm in North Dakota. 



11 



