EAGLES 239 



of the Eagles would swoop with a "cac-cac-cac" and as the 

 Osprey dropped the fish and endeavored to escape the Eagle 

 would deftly swoop under it and catch the fish before it had 

 fallen very far. Only once or twice have I seen the Eagles 

 swoop down near the shore and catch living fish for themselves 

 and it seems likely that it is a characteristic of the entire tribe 

 to prefer stale fish or those gained from the Osprey. Various 

 guides and hunters have told me of shooting Ducks on the 

 ponds and lakes of northern Maine and having Eagles swoop 

 down and bear away the game before the hunters had time to 

 get out in a canoe and retreive it. Along the coast the Eagles 

 prefer to get their living through the medium of the Ospreys 

 as much as possible, and I have also on two occasions found 

 Eagles feeding on dead sheep on the outer islands, sheep which 

 had seemingly died of thirst or disease as they bore no evidence 

 of violence, save where the already rotten flesh had been torn 

 by the Eagles. The nests are nearly always with us placed 

 in tall trees, usually those with dead tops, or wholly dead, 

 and generally nearly inaccessible. The nests are always large 

 bulky structures of sticks, the result of years of occupancy, 

 and are lined with sods, seaweed and similar material. Two 

 or three pure white, more or less stained eggs are laid, generally 

 in late March with us, and they measure about 2.90 x 2.05. 

 Though practically resident with us they wander over a much 

 greater territory in fall and winter than they do in the nesting 

 season. In Florida they are said to breed in December and 

 January. 



In the Auk for April 1906, p. 222, I find the following 

 account of eggs of this species written by B. G. Willard. He 

 states: — "On April 7, 1891, I took a set of two eggs from a 

 Bald Eagle's nest in a tall dead pine (since fallen) in Lincoln 

 County, Maine. On April 16, 1892, I took a set of three eggs 

 from the same nest. Incubation had begun in the set of two 

 and was about one third completed in the set of three. — The 

 nest was lined with green pine boughs. When I found the nest 



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