ORNITHOLOGIST 



— A^D — 



OOLOGIST. 



PUBLISHED BY THE FRANK BLAKE WEBSTER COMPANY. 



ESTABLISHED MARCH, 1875. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



Single Copy 



10 cents. 



Vol. XVIII. 



HYDE PARK, MASS., JVLY, 1893. 



No. 7. 



Canadian Eagle. 



It was during the recent winter that, being 

 in Montreal, Canada, I had the good fortune 

 of acquiring from the dean of a medical in- 

 stitution a grand specimen of the Golden 

 Eagle (^Aquila C/irysaetos). 



The facts of the procural of this Eagle are 

 the following : It was shot on Montagne 

 Rougemont (Johnson Mountain) in a sugar 

 bush owned by the above dean and operated 

 by his habitant or farmer. 



This mountain is situated at a distance of 

 36 miles from Montreal and 3 miles from 

 St. Cesaire, Rouville Count}', P.Q. Johnson 

 Mountain is a bold, rugged, wooded emi- 

 nence rising to a height of perhaps two 

 thousand feet. It, however, seems higher on 

 account of its being almost solitary amongst 

 vast level stretches of farms, for which this 

 section is noted and which extend miles in 

 all directions. 



But to continue. This eagle was shot the 

 1 8th of March, 1893. I received it frozen 

 and mounted it a few days afterwards. 



I here append a few measurements which 

 I took after the thawing out of the bird. 

 They were taken as carefully as possible, 

 from the sole fact, as you perhaps know, that 

 Eastern specimens of the Golden Eagle are 

 few and far between : 



Sex, female ; weight, 10 lbs. 14 oz. ; extent, 

 84 inches (7 feet) ; wing, 27 inches; length 

 (beak to tip of tail), 35^^ inches; length 

 (beak to end of claw) , 34 inches ; tail, 1 5 

 inches; thigh, 7j^ inches; tarsus, 5 inches; 



toe (middle,) 2?/^ inches; toe (hind) 1)/^ 

 inches; claw (inner), 2% inches; claw 

 (hind), 2% inches; mandible (tipper, with 

 cere), 3 inches. 



One can judge of the strength of such a 

 bird when the tape, stretched around its 

 thigh, indicates 7 inches, and around its head 

 nine inches ; whereas the girth of the body 

 around closed wings measures 27 inches. 



It is on close examination that you per- 

 ceive just how those long, bear-like claws 

 and powerful mandibles, combined with a 

 powerful thick muscled raptoral body, and 

 lastly that immense stretch of wings, can 

 with ease make a Hare give its last squeak ; a 

 Grouse whirr for the last time ; a stray Lamb 

 carried exultingly upward ; and, as history 

 sometimes tells us, a child left by its mother 

 fiown away with and devoured at leisure. 



The weight of a large Bald Eagle, of which 

 I have measurements, was but 9 pounds ; 

 though in extent, with tape stretched across 

 its wings, gave the grand spread of 7 feet 4 

 inches. 



That Golden Eagles have for years past 

 been breeding on this Canadian mountain, I 

 doubt not, for on many a rocky crag could 

 their eyries have been built and they have 

 reared their young in safety from man ; for 

 rarely are those crags inspected, if ever, by 

 enterprising oologists or even ornithologists. 

 Even that highly educated dean didn't know 

 whether it was a large Hawk or an immature 

 Bald Eagle ! But the feathered tarsus plainly 

 revealed its identity. Albert M. Roberts. 



Holyoke, Mass. 



Copyright, 1893, by Frank Biake Webster CoMrANy. 



