124 



THE OSPREY. 



YOUNG SOOTY TERNS. 

 PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE, ON BOARD SCHOONER. 



See Page 123. 



ELECTROCUTED EAGLES." 



GEORGE 



See first Ft 



GRUESOME indeed are the sanguinary relics 

 reproduced in this number with the best 

 skill of the engraver's art! They are all that 

 remain of two eagles, which had the temerity to 

 alight on a high potential transmission line of the 

 San Joaquin Electric Company, of Fresno, Cal., and 

 the vindictiveness of the 10,000-volt circuit at the 

 interference is here attested. 



To particularize, the transmission plant was run- 

 ning with its usual serenity one day last fall, when, 

 like the traditional thunder-clap from a clear sky, 

 one of the transmission circuits developed a dead 

 short circuit, with the almost instantaneous open- 

 circuiting and grounding of the two legs of the cir- 

 cuit which are on the upper cross arms. This, of 

 course, interrupted the service in Fresno, and the 

 ground thus thrown on was so severe that it became 

 impossible to burn it out. After a few minutes 

 delay, the service was resumed over the second trans- 

 mission line, which had remained uninjured. 



Linemen were sent out at once to ascertain the 

 cause of the trouble and repair the broken circuit, 

 and after having gone over nearly thirty miles of 

 line, they reached a mountain top about five miles 

 from the power house where the break was discov- 

 ered. As to the cause of it, there were found the 

 scant relics of two eagles, consisting merely of one 

 skull and four feet and parts of legs. Two of the 



*For this article and the photographic illustration we are 

 indebted to the kindness of Mr. Low, editor and proprietor of 

 The Journal of Electricity' of San Francisco. 



P. LOW. 

 oiitispiece. 



talons were clutched tightly to the line wires in 

 literal realization of the grip of death, while the 

 remaining two feet and parts of legs were free from 

 the marks of roasting, or rather from the burning to 

 a crisp, that characterized the feet that clutched the 

 wires. Not a vestige of the bodies or feathers of 

 either bird, nor of the head of one of them, could be 

 found — in fact the only remains were those given in 

 the illustration. Another interesting specimen was 

 found, however, which shows the terrific heat of the 

 electric arc. The soil along the pole line at the 

 place indicated consists of pure granitic sand, which, 

 wherever the wire touched the ground, had become 

 melted into glass and even a piece of quartz had been 

 fused and run in together with the glass. This is 

 well shown in the specimen presented in the illustra- 

 tion. 



The circumstance of the accident suggests a theory 

 for it, as evidently the two eagles alighted on differ- 

 ent legs of the three-phase circuit within close prox- 

 imity to each other; that they actually came into 

 contact and in so doing formed a short circuit which 

 not only incinerated the eagles, but threw the wires 

 into short circuit and burned them oft. 



The question has been raised as to whether the 

 accident was due to two male eagles battling for 

 supremacy, or whether the short circuit was formed 

 by a 'love-lorn billing and cooing pair' — a point 

 upon which yellow journalism may decide. 



