NESTS AND NESTING HABITS OF THE AMERICAN 



EAGLE ' 



By Fkancis II. Herricic 

 Wester^i Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 



[AVith 3 plates] 



In northern Ohio the fringe of forest along the southern shore of 

 Lake Erie has long been the haunt of the American or white-headed 

 eagles {Haliceetus leucocephalus) . They were here before the white 

 man dispossessed the Indian, and here many have remained, in spite 

 of all the changes which he has wrought in the forests and upon the 

 shore, undismayed if not undisturbed by his incessant activities 

 afield ; until, unless an active war has been waged against them, they 

 have come to show no fear of the once novel sights and sounds of an 

 advancing civilization, and for the most part they have come to dis- 

 regard them utterly, ever trusting to their inherent powers of cir- 

 cumspection for their own safety, to their physical prowess, their 

 adaptability and to their marvelous speed in the air. 



The lake country was no doubt favored by the eagles because of 

 the almost never failing supply of fish to be found in most seasons 

 either at the surface or stranded upon the beach, a supply now greatly 

 augmented at certain points by rejects from the pound and gill nets 

 of fishermen. 



The favorite nesting trees of this region are the sycamore and 

 the shellbark hickory ; and that the dying or dead of these and other 

 species are repeatedly chosen by the same pair of birds must, no 

 doubt, be ascribed to habit, determined in the first instance by the 

 need of a safe approach to the aerie, and of an unobstructed out- 

 look from its spacious summit. When one of the branches which 

 supports the nest comes to be used as a perch, the nesting scenes take 



* Reprinted by permission from The Auk, Vol. XLI, No. 2, Apr., 1924. 



The " bald " or white-headed eagle was adopted as the sign of the independence and 

 sovereignty of the United States by vote of the National Congi-ess on June 20, 1782. 

 Although the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is also found within our limits, being now 

 confined mainly to the territory west of the Mississippi River, it seems appropriate and 

 •would certainly be convenient to designate our national bird as " The American eagle," 

 and to make the popular use of this term exactly discriminative of the species. 



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