THE OOLOGIST 



Very Unusual. 



A golden eagle was caught alive and 

 ^apparently in a perfectly healthy con- 

 dition and uninjured at Lacon, 111., 

 April 20, 1910 under the following ex- 

 traordinary circumstances: 



A local fisherman was in a boat 

 near the shore of the overflowed Illi- 

 nois River bottoms when a "black 

 eagle" which had been sitting in a 

 tree on a nearby bluff flew suddenly 

 down onto the ground into the brush 

 very near the boat, in an apparent en- 

 deavor to catch a mouse or some sim- 

 ilar object. The fisherman ran to- 

 wards the eagle which immediately 

 threw itself upon its back and com- 

 menced to strike out with its claws. 

 He threw over it, some strong fish net 

 ■webbing, which he had with him, and 

 captured the bird, took it up home and 

 kept it for some time in a box. 



Extraordinary as it may seem, in a 

 few days the eagle became perfectly 

 tame and when seen by the editor, a 

 couple of days after capture, permit- 

 ted itself to be stroked and handled, 

 and even lifted out of the box and held 

 in its captor's arms. Repeatedly we 

 saw him take it by the legs and lift 

 its feet and claws from the bottom of 

 the box, stroke the bird on its sides, 

 head and back, and extend its wings 

 one at a time. We ourselves repeat- 

 edly stroked the bird on the head with 

 no resistance from the bird except a 

 lowering of the head. As we would 

 stroke it, the bird would gradually 

 lower its head closer and closer to 

 the bottom of the box in which it was 

 kept, and it frequently uttered a plain- 

 tive low laugh-like gurgle, and acting 

 throughout much like a young bird 

 that had just left the nest; though 

 there were no signs of down upon the 

 plumage and no marks by which we 

 could determine this fact for a cer- 

 tainty. 



There is no nesting site of this bird 



within the State of Illinois known to 

 us, nor within several hundred miles 

 of Lacon, and this is the first Golden 

 Eagle that has come under our per- 

 sonal knowledge within the confines 



of the state. 



* * * 



Since writing the foregoing, the bird 

 has been turned out and for several 

 days stayed around the town in the 

 trees and on the house and chimney 

 tops, much to the fright of the local 

 poultry and a few ladies and many 

 small children; doing so far as we 

 know absolutely no damage whatever 

 to any living children. Where it final- 

 ly went is unknown to us, but we trust 

 it will not be molested wherever it 

 may choose to go. EDITOR. 



More of The American Robin in 

 England. 



In the northern suburbs of London 

 and across the north-eastern counties 

 a curious bird migration was to be 

 seen today. One of the last of the 

 winter visitors was leaving. The 

 birds had begun to find England too 

 warm, and the desire to nest in more 

 congenial places was upon them. 



In spite of an early spring, the de- 

 parture is rather late, but fieldfares 

 are the least regular of all the mi- 

 grants. Today they were flying high 

 and in a steady stream; but during 

 the whole journey, at any rate across 

 Hertfordshire, they were chattering 

 in their complacent, unmistakable 

 manner. 



Many of the fieldfares have already 

 landed in Scandinavia. Probably a 

 good many Avill be left in England for 

 some days yet, but this year the last 

 of the winter visitors have conven- 

 iently left just as the host of summer 

 visitors are arriving. The two streams 

 will pass each other, though on the 

 whole the fieldfares diverge to the 

 north of most of our spring comers. 



