FALCONIDA — HALI^TUS LEU C O C E PH AL U S. 49 



Sir John Richfirdson, in Fanna Boreali-Americana, Vol. II, p. 15, states that he did 

 not meet with this species north of 62°, although he speaks of finding them common 

 between that point and Lake Superior. He also states that they leave the fur coun- 

 tries in October, when the rivers are frozen, and expresses the opinion that their 

 nests are more numerous in these regions than in the United States. In the last 

 point he is probably mistaken. Their nests are undoubtedly more common in the 

 South Atlantic States than anywhere else. Subsequently, in his expedition over 

 land to the Arctic Seas, in 1848, his observations in regard to this bhd differ 

 materially from his first impressions. He found this Eagle abundant at Half-moon 

 Lake, in latitude 56° north.' He also speaks of finding both the Osprey and White- 

 headed Eagle building their nests on the banks of Bear Lake Ptiver, in about C0° 

 north. At Fort Confidence, latitude 66° 54', we find in his notes, that White-headed 

 Eagles made their appearance as early as May 17th, before the ice had given way in 

 the rivers ; and in his tables of phenomena observed at the Cumberland House, in 

 latitude 54°, Ave also observe that a White-headed Eagle was seen as early as the 

 24:th of March, " being almost always the first of the summer birds which arrives." 



Dr. Woodhouse found this Eagle, though nowhere very abundant, from the Gulf 

 of Mexico to the Pacific, in the expedition to the ZuHi and Colorado Kivers. Dr. 

 Gambel found it common in California, breeding on the rocky clifis of its Pacific 

 coasts early in February. Dr. Townsend also met with it in Oregon, and Dr. Coop- 

 er's party in Washington Territory. 



It breeds along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida, and thence along the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande. It has not been observed either in Cuba or 

 Jamaica. It constructs its nest somewhat in accordance, both as to time and place,^ 

 with the climate,^ and other peculiarities of the locality. For the most part these 

 are placed on trees, but in California it resorts, in preference, to the rocky clifi's of 

 the sea-coast ; and in the fur countries Sir John Richardson noticed the same devia- 

 tions from its usual habits. Mr. Audubon, after Dr. Richardson had made public 



^ Sir John Richardson also states : " This Fishing Eagle abounds in the watery districts of Rupert's 

 Land, and a nest may be looked for within every twenty or thirty miles. Each pair appropriates a cer- 

 tain range of countrj', on which they suffer no intruders of their own species to encroach ; but the nest 

 of the Osprey is often placed at no great distance from that of the Eagle. Some of our voyagers had 

 the curiosity to visit an Eagle's nest, which was built on the cleft summit of a balsam poplar, of sticks, 

 many of them as thick as a man's wrist. It contained two young birds, well fledged, with a good store of 

 fish, in a very odoriferous condition. While the men were climbing the tree, the female parent hovered close 

 around, and threatened an attack on the invaders ; but the male kept aloof, making circles high in the air." 



2 In California, where the rocky coast is destitute of convenient trees, the White-headed Eagle resorts 

 to rocky clifTs as the safest and most convenient places for nesting. We have the authority of Sir John 

 Richardson for the same deviation from its usual resort to trees, in parts of the fur countries where the 

 latter are wanting. 



^ The climate apparently exerts some influence, though not so much as might be supposed. In the 

 Southern States this Eagle nests seven weeks earlier than in Maine, in both of which regions they are 

 resident throughout the year. Farther north, where the severity of the cold, by closing the ponds and 

 rivers with solid ice, places their food beyond their reach, and where they are only visitants in the warm- 

 er season, they of course breed still later, for the reason that they do not reach these regions until after the 

 breeding season of more southern birds of the species. 



7 



