34 



THE OOLOGI8T 



The Nesting History of a Pair of 

 Golden Eagles. 



(Aquila chrysseeos). 

 By C. H. Dixon. 



In this section of the country there 

 are nesting places of the Golden Eagle 

 that have been occupied for a length 

 of time beyond the memory of the old 

 est inhabitant. Our birds do not mi- 

 grate and each pair of birds seems to 

 have its own chosen territory where it 

 leads its life, unafraid and not ofien 

 molested. It would seem as if birds 

 recognized each others rights and did 

 not encroach upon preempted terri- 

 tory. As a rule the nesting ranges are 

 far apart and I have never known a 

 pair to take another's nest or build 

 near to another's range so it gives us 

 a very good opportunity to follow 

 quite closely the activities of the dif- 

 ferent birds. 



For many years I have kept track of 

 a pair of Eagles that have their home 

 in a canyon a few miles from my 

 house. The country occupied by them 

 IS a somewhat rectangular strip of 

 rough foot-hill land, lying from about 

 five to ten miles or more in from the 

 coast, and with a width of perhaps six 

 or eight miles between more open 

 country to the north and south. At 

 the upper eastern end are large open 

 valleys, farming lands, vineyards and 

 orchards at an elevation of about 650 

 feet above sea level. At the western 

 end the hills, gradually decreasing in 

 size, resolve themselves into flat mesa 

 (table land) and, where the river 

 comes out, into a large salt marsh, dry 

 for part of the year, which reaches 

 away to the sea. 



Down through the middle of this 

 country, through the river canyon, 

 runs the country road. On either 

 side the hills rise to a pretty uniform 

 elevation of 1300 feet. The highest 

 point being 1750 feet (U. S. Geological 

 Survey). To north and south is per- 



haps three miles or more of rough, hil- 

 ly country unoccupied except by wild 

 things. On the sheltered northern 

 slopes the brush grows to a height of 

 eight or ten feet, in places nearly in- 

 penetrable. 



Along the river there are some llrie 

 groves of live oaks, and a few syca- 

 mores and cottonwoods on the river 

 bank. The other slopes of the hilic> 

 are bare in places and most of what 

 undergrowth there is, is, at the most, 

 barely five feet in height. The river 

 bed is a mass of water-worn boulders. 

 The hills rise steeply from the liver 

 canyon and there are many large rock 

 heaps and isolated monoliths, they 

 might well be called, that raise their 

 heads high above the surrounding 

 brush, fine lookout stations for the 

 Eagles and Buzzards. 



It is an ideal home for Eagles and 

 their long residence here would prove 

 it to be satisfactory as a home and 

 hunting ground, for no eagle would long 

 stay in a territory where the hunt- 

 ing was not good. Rabbits, ground 

 squirrels, wood rats, quail, and other 

 things are here in abundance, all of 

 which are important items in their 

 food supply. 



That Eagles inhabit this section was 

 known to me for several years before, 

 in .1898, I was able to make a search 

 for their nesting places. In that year 

 two nests were located, one in a corner 

 formed by natural cleavage in a huge 

 monolith-like rock half way to the top 

 of the hill above the river and the 

 other on a shelf of an immense ledge 

 which formed the whole rocky front 

 of a hill a quarter of a mile away. 

 The first nest was very old and in bad 

 shape. It has since fallen out entirely. 

 Number two was comparatively new, 

 but was not in very good condition. 

 Nothing evidently had been done to 

 it that year. 



In 1899 three trips were made to the 



