1, .">()() t'cet below. There was no mistak- 

 ing the intent of tlie eagle. Il diiccted 

 its efforts toward forcing the deer over 

 the sheer bluffs, thereby either killing the 

 deer or crippling it so badly that it could 

 offer no further resistance to the attack 

 of the eagle. 



Sutton (liJ-!8) ie{)<)rts a similar 

 case of a golden eagle pursuing a 

 fawn until it was driven over a 

 sharp declivity. The deer's leg wan 

 broken in the fall, whereupon it be- 

 came easy prey for the large bird. 

 Anderson (1940) also reports two 

 instances where he thought golden 

 eagles were intentionally trying to 

 knock mountain goats from ledges. 

 In one of these the eagle actually 

 knocked a yearling goat off the ledge 

 but the latter landed on a ledge K) 

 feet below with no apparent ill 

 effects. 



To what extent such observations 

 portray the unusual or the connnon- 

 place is not possible to state. Pend- 

 ing the time when adequate field 

 appraisal of the deer-eagle relation- 

 ship can be made, available evidenc? 

 indicates that the golden eagle has 

 only a minor influence on deer. .Vl- 

 tliough more than UK) years havi' 

 elapsed since Audubon (IS-'U) 

 placed "young deer'' at the top of 

 the golden eagle's food list, there 

 still is almost as much need foi- 

 factual data on this specific trait as 

 there was in bS^U. 



B}(/h(}rn Shi'( j). — In u study of 

 the bighorn in .Vi'izona. cooix'ra- 

 tively conducted by the National 

 Association of Auduljon Societies, 

 the Arizona Game and Fish Com- 

 mission, and the I'niversity of Ari- 

 zona in 10.")T. A. A. Xichol (corre- 

 spondence) found that the thnH> 

 major factors operat ing to the det ri 



meiU of the species at that time were 

 I)oaching, roads, and drongiit. and 

 the greatest of these was poaching. 

 Xo eagle depredations on bighorn 

 sheep were observed during the 

 investigation. 



Since Xichol's survey, this species 

 has been subjected to research in 

 practically every State in the AVest, 

 bighorn-sheep refuges have been 

 established, and technically trained 

 wildlife managers have been as- 

 signed to them. Even with this in- 

 creased emphasis on bighorn-sheep 

 restoration, authentic information 

 is still sketchy concerning the etfect 

 of golden eagles on bighorn sheep 

 with which they often share the 

 same range. 



Great interest, however, was man- 

 ifested when Allen (lOoS)) in his 

 account of the ecology and manage- 

 ment of Nelson's bighorn, consid- 

 ered the eagle a serious threat to 

 bighorns in southern N^evada. He 

 expressed the opinion that golden 

 eagles probably killed far more 

 newborn lambs than did mam- 

 malian predators, and stated that 

 he had personally observed 17 kills 

 of bighorn lambs by eagles. 



Ivefnge^SIanager Kennedy ( 1948) 

 of the San Andi'es Xational Wild- 

 life Kefuge, X". Mex., n'corded a 

 highly probable case of a golden 

 eagle's killing a desert bighorn 

 lamb. In this instance the ewe was 

 observed in the process of giving 

 biilh to I he lanib. and she was seen 

 wit h the hinib -1 days later. On the 

 thii'd day a golden eagle was ob- 

 served feeding on the lamb, and 

 circuinstances attending tlie obser- 

 Nalion indicated that the eagle had 

 Ivilled the lamb. It may be signifi- 



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