THE AMERICAN EAGLE — HERRICK 273 



Headline reported, they paid little attention to the carpenters; 

 while one of the eagles would fly over the aerie and drop a bundle 

 of straw, cornstalks, or stubble, which it carried in its talons, the 

 other would dispose of it, remaining thus engaged for 15 or 20 

 minutes at a time; they had already built a barrier of sticks about 

 the margin and were now laying a mattress of straw and softer 

 materials over the center; when the carpenters finally returned to 

 finish their Avork on the 20th of March, this bedding was completed, 

 and one of the eagles, presumably the female, was sitting in its midst, 

 though not continuously while the men were there. We infer that 

 at least two eggs had then been laid, or were about to be laid, and 

 allowing the eagle two or three days for sitting on the nest before 

 actually producing an egg, the probable error as to the beginning 

 of incubation is not likely to be greater than this either way. 



When I next visited the nest with Mr. Headline on April 6 incuba- 

 tion was well advanced ; as we proceeded down the lane and entered 

 the grove not an eagle was to be seen, and in spite of our past experi- 

 ence it was impossible to repress the feeling that some mishap might 

 have befallen eggs or birds. We had not taken many steps in the 

 grove, however, before the male suddenly hove into view from the 

 east, wheeled and settled on one of his habitual perches in the woods. 

 This quickly dissipated our fears, and as we approached the nest 

 tree a white head rose from the top of the aerie, at its very center ; 

 with the binoculars we could see that head and neck were craned in 

 our direction, the better to follow our movements upon the ground; 

 as we reached the observatory tree she went off silently and joined 

 her mate on his tree-top perch. We then proceeded with our busi- 

 ness, raising a 12-foot ladder to the upper platform and mounting 

 it there, in the hope that by its aid we might see the eggs in place, 

 as the eagle had left them. Since this platform rises 95 feet above 

 the ground, and 14 feet above the level of the nest, this ladder would 

 easily carry the eye 15 feet higher; but at even 29 feet above the top 

 of the aerie, we could not detect the eggs within it, so completely 

 were they concealed with the thick cover of straw and stubble. As 

 it is a slow, difficult and rather hazardous task to climb the nest tree, 

 we resolved to take no further risks with the eggs during the pres- 

 ent season. While on the upper platform at this time I saw an in- 

 teresting performance — the male eagle assailing the female, rising 

 above her, striking at her with talons extended, in anything but 

 an amorous manner, and apparently trying to induce her to return 

 to her eggs. 



On April 21, two Aveeks later, I found both eagles standing on 

 their aerie, and at once concluded that the eggs had hatched; this 

 proved to be the case, for upon again ascending to our upper plat- 

 form we could see two eaglets, which from their appearance could 



