THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 17 



a few had I devoted much time to them. One of the gun- 

 ners finally procured me an adult male, and with that I had 

 to be satisfied. 



Immature, dark-brown specimens were sometimes seen, 

 but were not as plentiful as the full-plumaged white-heads. 

 The natives call the dark birds Washington, or Gray 

 Eagles. 



I have taken it for granted that crippled ducks form the 

 chief food item of the Currituck Sound Eagles in Winter 

 almost entirely from hearsay evidence, and I do not think 

 I am mistaken in this, as the evidence of the market gun- 

 ners all points that way. Frequently could the great birds 

 be seen carrying something in their claws about the size of 

 a duck, and from the ease with which the cripples could be 

 caught along the edges of the marsh, and from what I saw 

 and heard, the conclusion is natural that the Eagle of this 

 locality is an epicure, living principally on the flesh of the 

 toothsome Redhead and Canvas-back. 



Regarding their nesting I have no data to give. I was 

 told, however, that there were no less than three nests on 

 one single island, and I see no reason to doubt the state- 

 ment. From their abundance it seems to me probable that 

 they must nest in some numbers along the shores of the 

 Sound ; and from their wary habits, and the fact that they 

 are not much molested, or systematically hunted, either for 

 themselves or their eggs, I think it will be years before 

 this noble bird is driven from his chosen home and well- 

 filled larder on Currituck Sound. 



A BIRD OF THE NORTHLAND. 



{Spizella monticola.) 



BY HARRY E. MILLER, S. E. N. Y. STATE. 



In the last days of the tenth month, golden October, 

 when all the leaves have fallen strewing the ground with 

 a tinted carpet of many colors ; when the days are slowly 

 growing colder, reminding us that winter is soon to reign 

 over the rest of the seasons ; after other songsters have 



