234 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



feathers and was placed on a steep clifF. The nest was two 

 feet across and the inner diameter was about a foot. With us 

 they appear to be rather quiet in the daytime, being most often 

 seen on the wing at twilight. The chief food appears to be 

 the common field mouse. 



Genus AQUILA Brisson. 



349. Aqu'ila chrysaetos (Linn.). Golden Eagle. 



Plumage of adults: uniform dark brown above, but paler on head and 

 nape ; tail blackish, clouded with grayish toward base or basal half of tail 

 whitish ; below dark brown. Immature plumage : base of tail with broken 

 bars ; under tail coverts ochraceous buff ; otherwise much like adult. Wing 

 of male 23.00 to 25.00 ; wing of female 25.00 to 27.00 ; tarsus of male 3.75 ; 

 tarsus of female 4.20. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern parts of the Old World and North America south to 

 Mexico ; in the United States breeding in the mountainous unsettled portions. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; (Pike). Aroostook; one shot November 

 6, 1898 and mounted by Crosby, (Knight). Cumberland; taken at Peaks' 

 Island, (Brown, C. B. P., p. 22) ; two near Portland, fall of 1898, (Lord) ; an 

 adult male shot at Duck Pond, Windham, October 14, 1891, (Brock, Auk 13, 

 256). Franklin ; rare, (Richards) ; have seen three shot in Franklin County, 

 (Lord). Hancock; one shot at Flood's Pond, Otis, October 16, 1897, by 

 Abraham Warren and seen by me at S. L. Crosby's, (Knight). Somerset; 

 one taken on north branch of Dead River, at Wyman's Mt., November, 1899, 

 (Nash) ; saw one at Sandy Bay Mountain in August, 1895, under conditions 

 which indicate that it had young not far distant, (Harvey & Knight). 

 Washington ; very rare, shot in summer, (Boardman). 



This species is occasionally taken in Maine, and there seems 

 to be good reasons for believing that it occasionally breeds in 

 the mountainous portions of the State. For instance the late 

 Prof. F. L. Harvey and I saw one at Sandy Bay Mountain, 

 near Jackman, in August, 1895. This bird was very uneasy 

 and flew near us uttering its shrill cry, "kich kich kee" which 

 was answered from a steep cliff on the side of the mountain. 

 Judging from its actions and the answering cries which seemed 

 more like the clamorings of young birds there would appear 

 to have been well grown young not able to fly near at hand. 

 If it had been the bird's mate that answered the calls there 



