GATHERING BIRDS’ EGGS IN FLORIDA 165 
quail hunt was off for the day. We would usually get a 
dozen birds in a couple of hours towards evening. We 
had quail broiled, fried, and roasted. Did you ever try 
stewed quail with dumplings? 
Eagles are perhaps the earliest of the bird family to 
engage in their annual nesting. We found the first bald- 
headed American eagles’ nest the day before Christ- 
mas. The nest was a bunch of big sticks that from the 
ground looked ten feet across and fifteen feet high. 
Eagles pair for life and if undisturbed nest in the same 
place year after year, building a new nest on top of the 
old one. 
Climbing the tall pine that contained the nest was no 
easy matter and even after reaching the bottom of the 
nest you were not at the end of your journey. The 
nest bulged in all directions. It was like trying to 
get aboard a ship on the stocks, by starting at the 
keel. 
Finally by tunneling through the lower part of the 
nest, the Captain reached a bough that was one of its 
chief supports and managed to climb up and reach the 
top. There were two eggs. The Captain put one in 
the breast pocket of his shirt, the other in his mouth. 
Coming down, the egg in his mouth broke! The Cap- 
tain shot both eagles. The female was thirty-one 
inches long and six feet eight inches from wing tip to 
wing tip. The male was twenty-nine inches in length 
and stretched six feet six inches. On January 18th we 
found another nest but the eggs had hatched. 
It’s odd how things happen sometimes. After hunt- 
ing far and near for anivory-billed woodpecker’s nest I 
accidentally found one close to camp. Shooting quail 
