276 LIFE LiISTOElES OF NOKTH AMEllIOAN BIRDS. 



to begin here, and, during the several j^ears I liave known this nest to be 

 occupied, I do not remember them ever commencing to lay later than Feb- 

 ruary 6 or 7. I also think if one of a pair be killed alter they have eggs or 

 young, if notliing further happens, that the remaining bird will perform all 

 the duty of inculjation and care for the young. 



"Two of my assistants watched the nest previously refeiTed to during 

 tlie present season, 18'J1, and on the day tlie birds w^ere first found sitting 

 l)oth my men had visited the place, and on their return I saw them sepa- 

 rately when they both told the following story. They said 'that they found 

 one of the Eagles on the nest and that on pounding on the tree it flew to 

 another near by and gathered a buucli of >Spanis]i moss in its claws. It then 

 flew slowly back over tlie nest, and, wlieu just al)ov(:' it, ])oised for a moment 

 on its wings, and droi)])ed the moss, whicli nearly fell into the nest.' I believe 

 this to be true, for I questioned both of the men very closely and they told 

 exactly the same story, and they know nothing about the habit these birds 

 have of marking their nests. 



"Nearly all the nests I found were in pine trees, and generally the 

 highest and thickest the birds could And, but as pines in tliis locality are 

 not very tall, the majority of tlie nests were only 50 or GO feet above the 

 ground. The highest and lowest locations of nests were 75 and 30 feet, but 

 these were extremes, at least so far as occupied nests were concerned. The 

 places the Bald Eagle likes to frequent are forests of tall heavy timber in the 

 immediate vicinity of some good-sized body of water, and they almost always 

 build their nests in such situations. Both sexes assist in incubation, and are 

 e(iually solicitous in the care of their eggs and young. They show great 

 distress when their nests are disturbed, but are very careful to keep just out 

 of gunshot, and I can recall but one instance of the Bald Eagle's attacking 

 anyone, and that was a pair which had a nest in a large pine tree near 

 the south shore of Crescent Lake, Florida. These birds would swoop down 

 and almost strike the head of niy clind^er, and were so very savage that one 

 of my party became frightened, and thinking- they might injure him, shot the 

 male, which was the fiercer of the two. The nest contained two young but 

 a few hours old, and as I was afraid they would either starve, or that Vul- 

 tures or Crows would get them while the mother bird was absent after food, 

 I thought I WM)uld try to raise them myself 



"They throve splendidly on a diet of meat and flsli, and the amount 

 they w^ould consume in the course of twentA-four hours was something \Aon- 

 derful. I would stuff" them, until I was almost afraid they would burst, in 

 hopes of keeping them quiet for a few minutes ; but it was no use, for the 

 first noise they heard would set them veiling as loud as ever. I kept them 

 until I left Florida, a period of almost two months, and they w^ere then 

 nearly half grown, and the family with whom I lived promised me to care 

 for them. Soon after my departure one of them w-as injured and died shortly 

 afterward, but the other got along nicely, and on my return the next winter, 



