AQUILA CANADENSIS. ;yjl 



Sien-a Nevada; aftenvard, it was continually oljserved on all the high 

 ran<>es to the eastward, such as the Toyabe aiul the West and East Hum- 

 boldt, being particularl}' common among the rocky heights of the latter. 

 At Camp 19, on the last-named mountains, on the 29th of July, we were so 

 fortunate as to witness the chase and cajiture of a Sage-IIen (Centrocercus 

 iirojihmianHs) by a pair of these Eagles. We were standing a few yards in 

 the rear of a tent, when our attention was arrested b\ a rushing noise, and 

 upon looking up the slope of the mountain we saw flying down its wooded 

 side, with the rapidity of an arrow, a Sage-lien, pursued by two Eagles. 

 The Hen was about twenty yards in advance of her pursuers, exerting her- 

 self to the utmost to escape; her wings, from their rapid motion, Ijeing 

 scarcely visible. The Eagles in hot pursuit (the larger of the two leading), 

 followed every undulation of the fugitive's course, steadily lessening the dis- 

 tance between them and the object of their pursuit; their wings not moving, 

 except when a slight inclination was necessary to enable them to follow a 

 cur\(' in the course of the fugitive. So intent were they in the cha.se that 

 they passed within twenty yards of us. They had scarcely gone by, how- 

 ever, when the Sage-Hen, wearied by her continued exertion, and hoping, 

 probably, to conceal herself among the bushes, dropped to the ground ; Init 

 no sooner had she touched it than she was immediately snatched ujj by the 

 foremost of her relentless jjursuers, who, not stop})ing in its flight, bore the 

 ])rize rapidly toward the rocky summits of the higher peaks, accompanied 

 by its mate. Some moments later, we again saw them soaring overhead, 

 describing circles as they rose higher and higher, when, taking a direct 

 course for some distant range, they disappeared I'roiu \ iew. At the Over- 

 land lianche, in Ruby Valley, one of these powerful birds was in captiv- 

 itv; he was one of the largest size, and a trulv noble-looking creature. He 

 was kept tied to a horizontal pole, which served him for a perch, in a kind 

 of ])0wer constructed of green branches ; none but his keeper could handle 

 him, and every motion of a person who approached was followed by the 

 quick fiery glance of his watchful eye, which did not permit even the 

 slightest movement to pass unobserved. Specimens of the " Mountain- 

 Eagle," as this bird is there called, may be found in captivity in almost any 

 settlement in the mountain-regions of the West. 



