THE OOLOQIST 



69 



of two eggs last season, was occupied 

 this year. This site was the most fav- 

 orable for many miles around, being 

 situated up a Sycamore tree on an is- 

 land in the river though some one 

 took the eggs ahead of me. 



Another nest that was occupied in 

 1909, contained one egg, complete set. 

 This nest was deserted for two years 

 and occupied by another pair of birds 

 in 1912. The reason I know it was 

 another pair of birds was this, — this 

 female was more daring, and the seta 

 collected this year contained two eggs, 

 which were about one-quarter larger. 



My old original pair of Eagles have 

 given me one of the greatest of stu- 

 dies yet. On May 10, 1899, I discov- 

 ered a nest up a large Chestnut tree, 

 up 80 feet, dead in the top, containing 

 two half grown young. The follow- 

 ing year, 1900, on April 8, I visited 

 the nest again but was too late, the 

 nest contained one young and one 

 addled egg; this broke the ice at last, 

 so in 1901, on March 8, I went again 

 each year going a month earlier. The 

 nest was deserted, I might have 

 known better than to undertake going 

 up, and I had probably gone 30 feet 

 up, when my spurs slipped and down 

 I came, skinning my chin on the bark 

 and landing at the base of the roots 

 with such a jar that one tooth pene- 

 trated clear through my lower lip. 

 When landing my spurs embedded in 

 the large approaches of the main stem 

 and the weight of my body was too 

 much for my lower limbs to hold in 

 elastic rigitity, and the result was I 

 went clear down to heels but with 

 quite force enough to overbalance me. 

 The resertion of this nest was caused 

 by my taking the little bird the year 

 previous. 



I was about doomed to disappoint- 

 ment when a man in town asked me 

 if I had not been after Eagles, and he 

 told me of a new nest about two miles 



from the old one. It was in a tail 

 Pine Oak tree, about 120 feet up, on 

 a hillside swamp. The tree stood in. 

 the lower part of the swamp and 

 loomed high above its neighbors, that 

 stood around it. As I was done with 

 spurs for that day, I managed to get 

 up and down without them. The nest 

 contained two incubated eggs which I 

 brolve while blowing, the only ones I 

 have ever broken, thus I had failure 

 all around but it was my own fault, 

 poor equipment, etc. 



Winter of 1902-03. Tree cut down. 

 March 3, '05 new nest lower down in 

 swamp; looked in nest from adjoining 

 tree and birds left. 



March 5, 1905. New nest but seem- 

 ed unoccupied. 



I actually gave them up for five 

 years, but in March, 1910, I took a set 

 of two from a new Chestnut in original 

 wood, a tree very similar to the one 

 from which I fell. 



March 4, 1911, this nest container! 

 another nice set of two eggs, same 

 nest as 1910. 



March 11, 1912, they built a new nest 

 about 300 yards distance in a Black 

 Oalv tree, which contained their usual 

 number, two eggs. 



March 3, 1913, they had returned 

 to the Chestnut I had taken two sets 

 from previously. The four good sets 

 saved from this pair of birds all bear 

 a uniformity in size, also the set that 

 was broken. The addled egg is some- 

 what longer. 



I give these notes to warn the read- 

 ers of The Oologist not to put too 

 much dependence on a Bald Eigle's 

 nest if eggs were taken the year pre- 

 vious. 



Eggs taken by me in the Middle At- 

 lantic States show a great diversion in 

 size the smallest measures 2.13x2.62; 

 the largest 2.32x3.03. 



Their color is a yellowish-white, or 

 a blue-white. I think age makes the 



