THE OOLOGIST 



43 



Golden Eagles. 



In the hot, foot hill valleys, of the 

 southern portion of Santa Clara Coun- 

 ty, California, the Golden Eagles are 

 said to have, been numerous a few 

 years ago. This may be true today, 

 though such has ■ not been my exper- 

 ience this season. 



I did, howerer,. find a single nest of 

 this species, which on March 13th was 

 apparently' fiilished, but as yet unoc- 

 cupied. In parsing, it might be men- 

 tioned that though this nest was of 

 the usual type, and in an oak, it was 

 only fifteen feet from the ground. 



On March 'Slst, I again visited this 

 region, and about noon entered the 

 little grove of oaks in which the nest 

 tree grew. I noticed that the Califor- 

 nia .Jays were making considerable 

 noise, but thought nothing of it until 

 I had climbed to the nest. It contain- 

 ed one perfectly fresh egg, probably 

 just laid. About one-fourth of the 

 shell had been broken away, and the 

 chips, which were about the size of a 

 dime, were scattered about the nest. 

 The shell was nearly emptied of its 

 contents, some spilled and the rest 

 eaten. This was evidently the work of 

 the Jays. 



This seems very strange to me, 

 where were these supposedly fierce, 

 strong eagles that they let these Jays 

 rob them as soon as their first egg 

 was laid? They; certainly kept out of 

 sight while I was around. Of course 

 Jays are unqueistionably bold, but 

 what is the explanation of the eagle's 

 conduct? They certainly were not 

 afraid — was it that they did not care, 

 or was it that the jays were more 

 clever than they, and caught them off 

 guard? Again, is it a usual thing for 

 these ever thieving Jays to select such 

 large birds for their victims? Cer- 

 tainly a number of Hawks nests in the 

 vicinity showed no such goings on. 



Perhaps some one with more exper- 

 ience can answer some of these 

 things. If so, I would like to hear 

 from them. C. K. SNYDER. 



Bald Eagle. 



The Bald Eagle commences nest 

 building in the middle Atlantic States 

 in the Fall and Winter and deposits its 

 eggs from February 21st to March 5th, 

 and lays from one to three eggs to a 

 set, a blue white in color. The nests 

 I have climbed to have ranged .in 

 height from forty feet to one hundred 

 twenty feet, and placed in the largest 

 trees in each vicinity. Chestnut Pin 

 Oak, White Oak, Pine and gum trees 

 are the prevailing trees for sites. 

 Have never known an eagle to attack 

 anyone, but in taking a set on March 

 6, 1910 from a Chestnut tree seventy 

 feet up, the female made several 

 swoops and dives near me, and made 

 the air sing on her upward turn. She 

 also made many acrobatic movements 

 in the air while I was investigating 

 near and about the tree. 



I never climb up to an eagle's nest 

 until I am positive she is sitting. If 

 you climb before the bird has com- 

 pleted the set, she will return and 

 break the egg or eggs, and if she has 

 not deposited any at all, she will not 

 do so that year. On two occasions I 

 have known them to desert the nest 

 for good. I even knew of one nest be- 

 ing deserted when I climbed a tree 

 near by and peeped into the nest. 

 Those birds never did come back. 

 Once I knew them to come back to a 

 tree after an absence of four years. 



Once I was completely bewildered 

 when on February 27th or 28th, 1906, 

 I climbed to a nest that contained one 

 egg. I left it for a complete set of 

 course, but I will never leave another. 

 I went back in about five days only to 

 find a broken shell in the nest. The 



