520 THE BALD EAGLE. 
bird a bit of meat now and then. Besides that, it preys oftenest on fish, and 
dead fish at that. “Well, anyhow, it has been known to attack children.” 
Yes; there are two or three well authenticated instances in American history 
(one of which I shall relate presently) in which Eagles have mistaken babies 
for meat. But you don’t shoot your fellow-men at sight because some of 
them are kidnappers, do you? No; you shoot the Eagle with your 30-30 
bullet for the same reason that Omph did with his flaked flint; viz., because 
he is big. Being big and predatory, he has become the symbol of prowess, 
power, dominion. Ergo, it is a proud thing to kill him. You are bigger 
than the Eagle. Unquestionably! Also smaller, because you are supposed 
to know better. When the man who begins his story at the club with “I 
killed an Eagle once,” is hissed roundly, as he ought to be, then, and not till 
then, will this senseless slaughter cease. 
Save where driven to the mountains by persecution, Bald Eagles are 
birds of the lowlands, and especially of the water-side. Fifty years ago they 
existed on Puget Sound and along the banks of the Columbia in almost incred- 
ible numbers. Here they had no need to plunder the Osprey, as has been 
so often recited; for they could obtain all the fish they wanted at first hand, 
either by posting on the shallows and seizing salmon as they ran, or by glean- 
ing along shore among the weakened and exhausted fish which were cast up 
in windrows at the close of the season. ‘Twenty years ago this Eagle was 
still a common sight along the shores and waterways of Puget Sound His 
white head lighted up the depths of some wood-bound lake as we stepped 
forth to size up the local bird population, and his majestic flight repeatedly 
gladdened a tramp along the river trail. Now, all is changed. One may go 
out in the open for a week at a time without ever seeing an Eagle; and the 
only place I know where one may count with any certainty upon seeing two 
Eagles in a day, is along the still unfrequented western coast. Perhaps there 
are those whose only affections are for “Dickey birds,” but give me back the 
Eagle, Keneu, the great war-eagle, majestic, romantic, kingly—with all his 
faults. 
There can be little doubt that the Eagle of western Washington is less 
offensive than his relatives in the interior or further east. The mildness of 
the climate and the comparative abundance of food have thus reacted upon 
his character for his betterment. Mr. Bowles records an instance which he 
personally vouches for, on Cape Cod, Mass., where an Eagle attacked an 
infant. The birds were common thereabouts, owing to the fall run of her- 
ring. A woman, having left her baby creeping about in a nearby clover field, 
was picking blackberries near the water-side. Suddenly she was startled by 
the screams of the child, and horrified to see a large Eagle dragging it along 
the ground in attempt to fly with it. Rushing up she succeeded in frighten- 
ing the bird till it dropped the baby, when she found to her relief that the 
