GOLDEN EAGLE 293 



least glint of sunlight on the adult eagle's head and neck shows these parts 

 to have a golden brown color unlike that of either the Vulture or the Red- 

 tailed Hawk. 



Golden Eagles are seen singly or in pairs; we have never seen more 

 than two at any one time. The birds are wan% by nature as well as by 

 necessity, and in consequence are rarely seen at rest. In flight they exhibit 

 well the strength and power with which an eagle is so closely associated 

 in the average person's mind. Sometimes they are seen to dash across 

 or down a caiion in direct course as if going on a particular mission ; again, 

 and more often, they circle with apparent leisure, presumably on watch 

 for prey ; and occasionally they spiral up until in spite of their large bodies 

 and broad wings they become mere specks in the sky, seeming' to move 

 scarcely at all. In Mono Pass, where the west wind often sweeps through 

 the caiion with such force as to impede the progress of man or animal, a 

 Golden Eagle was seen one day flying against the gale and even he was 

 forced to tack back and forth, seeking a low course behind sheltering crags. 



Twice only did we chance to see an eagle perched. In Yosemite Valley 

 on November 9, 1915, after the first fall of snow, a bird alighted on the 

 dead top of a tall pine about 200 yards away. As it grasped the branch, 

 masses of snow, dislodged by the impact of the bird's weight, went shower- 

 ing down through the tree, glittering in the brilliant sunshine. With our 

 field glasses we saw clearly the golden brown tint of the bird's upper 

 plumage. 



On the morning of May 19, 1919, while we were driving along the 

 floor of the Valley near Cathedral Spires, a large shadow passed over 

 the road. Looking up we saw a Golden Eagle. The bird alighted in the 

 top of a not distant dead tree where we could see to advantage its char- 

 acters of size, feathered head, and dark coloration. 



At Pleasant Valley we had several conclusive demonstrations that the 

 eagle's reputed keenness of vision is no idle proverb. Several times during 

 our stay, a year-old captive in a cage at the store near by was heard to 

 give its loud clear call. Looking up we would sooner or later detect one 

 or two eagles above the hill-rimmed horizon. Sometimes the approaching 

 birds looked to be mere specks in the sky, too small to attract our attention 

 until it was directed to them by the obvious excitement of the captive; 

 often it was several minutes before they came close enough for us to dis- 

 tinguish them from the ever present Turkey Vultures. But the caged 

 bird had recognized his kind the instant they hove into sight. We were 

 told that this captive bird had been taken in 1914 from a nest in a big 

 digger pine east of the settlement, and that another young eagle in the 

 nest at the same time had been killed accidentally while the tree was being 

 felled. 



