332 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



often placed at no great distance from that of the Eagle. Some of the 

 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 in- 

 vaders ; but the male kept aloof, making circles high in the air. 



In California, where the rocky coast is destitute of convenient trees, the 

 White-headed Eagle resorts to rocky cliffs as the safest and most convenient 

 places for nesting. We have the authority of Richardson for the same de- 

 viation from its usual resort to trees in parts of the fur-countries where the 

 latter are wanting. The climate apparently exerts a certain influence, though 

 not so much as might be supposed. In the Southern States it nestsi seven 

 weeks earlier than in Maine, in both of which regions it is resident through- 

 out 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 warmer season, they, of course, nest 

 still later, for the reason that they do not reach these regions until after the 

 breeding season of more southern birds of the species. 



In the extreme Southern States, as in California, the White-headed Eagle 

 breeds as early as February. In Maine, the general impression has been 

 that the eggs are not deposited before May, and at a still later period in the 

 more northern portions of tlie United States. More recent observations 

 show this to be incorrect, and that these birds breed at a much earlier 

 season of the year. Mr. Audubon speaks of having once shot a female on 

 her eggs, near the Mississippi, as early as the 17th of January. Dr. Gambel 

 found White-headed Eagles nesting on the cliffs along the shores of the 

 Pacific in February and March. 



Having occasion to visit the State of Maine in April, 1856, near the Dama- 

 riscotta Eiver, the banks of which stream are frequented by these birds on 

 account of the abundance of fish, I was informed that • a pair had con- 

 structed a nest in a neighboring wood, which they had occupied for several 

 successive years. The previous season (1855). late in May, my informant 

 had climbed a tree in the immediate neighborhood, commanding a full view 

 of the nest. It then contained young nearly grown. From this statement 

 I was led to conclude that there was no time to be lost if we would secure 

 the eggs before hatching. We accordingly visited the nest on the 27th 

 of April, and found it situated on a tall pine, at least sixty feet from the 

 ground. The tree stood in a swampy wood, within a few rods of the 

 stage road, and not more tlian half a mile from the village of Damariscotta. 

 It contained no limbs or branches to facilitate ascent for at least the distance 

 of thirty feet, and the trunk at the base was from six to nine feet in circum- 

 ference, rendering it impossible to mount the tree by the aid only of the 

 hands and feet. My assistant was, however, drawn up, by means of a rope 



