270 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



season, or at least not long after the beginning of March, and that 

 the aerie served its owners as an habitual dining table. 



In the spring of 1921, according to Mr. Tibbels, the Danbury 

 eagles were seen carrying nest materials to a new site a mile away, 

 while they continued to hold to their first nest described above; 

 this was finally abandoned at the close of that season, probably 

 not because of the repeated raids which had been made upon it, 

 but rather on account of the insecurity of the nest itself, which 

 had lost a main supporting branch. At the time of our visit it 

 was sagging over the stump of this lost limb and appeared as if 

 ready to topple over in the next storm. At all events the new 

 nest was completed and occupied in the spring of 1922 upon the site 

 which had been determined the previous year. This second nest 

 was also in a dead hickory that stood on the border of woods and, 

 although barely elevated above the surrounding tree tops, it afford- 

 ed a good outlook. The tree was less than 2 feet in its greatest 

 diameter and the nest, which was estimated to stand at a height 

 of about 75 feet from the ground, was approximately 5 feet tall 

 and would measure as much or slightly less across the top. When 

 Mr. Tibbels climbed to another nest about the 1st of May, he found 

 the top strongly convex, as in the former case, and three eggs lying 

 close together in a depression that was evidently made by the laying 

 bird. On this occasion the old eagles, contrary to what might have 

 been expected, made no hostile demonstrations, but kept the climber 

 in sight while they were perched in neighboring trees. 



As we approached this second nest on the 5th of July, about 

 seven weeks later, one of the old eagles stood guard above it and 

 soon went off in silence, but a young bird that was resting or pos- 

 sibly feeding in the aerie itself remained until we were close upon 

 the tree. We found that the two eaglets, which had been on the 

 wing for upward of a week, were still in the habit of returning to 

 the aerie either alone or in the company of their parents. 



The unpopularity of these particular eagles evidently had not 

 abated, for an attempt had been made to fire their nest tree; 

 whether they were eventually driven out or not, I do not know, 

 but, according to Mr. Tibbels, they again abandoned their aerie in 

 the spring of the present year, and moving across the peninsula, 

 settled 8 miles to the northwest at Port Clinton. 



On July 2, my assistant, Mr. E. J. Humel, and I visited Kelley's 

 Island, which lies 10 miles due north from Sandusky, and is only 

 less famous for its eagles than for its extensive limestone quarries 

 and its world-renowned glacial grooves. The eagles now frequent 

 the semiwild eastern half of the island, which is 3 miles long by 2 

 broad. We visited three nests in the short time at our disposal and 



