74 THE GOLDEN EAGLE— RING-TAIL. 



farther to the eastward," and Pennant and Latham give it as an 

 inhabitant of Hudson's Bay. But since these records were written 

 ornithology has made rapid strides, and our knowledge of the 

 distribution of this noble species has greatly increased. Although, 

 perhaps, " more particularly a species of boreal and Alpine dis- 

 tribution," it also has an extensive dispersion in the Canadas and 

 the United States, being met with southward to about 35°. 

 Northward it ranges to the Arctic coast and beyond. The 

 Golden Eagle delights in solitude ; it universally selects for its 

 nesting site some almost, if not absolutely, inaccessible situation, 

 generally far from the dwelling of man. Here, in some towering 

 ledce of moss-covered rock, it constructs its nest and rears its 

 eagle-brood, year after year for great — though unknown — periods 

 of time. We have heard wonderful stories of the great age to 

 which some pairs of these birds have lived, and nests have been 

 pointed out to us which were said to have been occupied regularly, 

 by the same individuals, during upwards of one hundred years. 

 But who has not heard such stories ? Possibly in some such 

 out-of-the-way situations as the sub-alpine recesses of the Rocky 

 Mountains, where the foot of man seldom treads, some of these 

 birds may attain to this age, and return regularly to the same 

 nest. But in Canada and the bordering United States we may 

 venture to state that to-day there are few places where the Golden 

 Eagle could retain his eyry, for even the space of a few )ears, 

 vithout being discovered and destroyed. The oldest bird ot this 

 species which has come under my notice is that figured on Plate 

 XVII. This individual is known to have lived for thirty-five years 

 in confinement, and was when captured between three and five years 

 old. Its death was brought about by a gathering in the throat, 

 and at a time when the bird was in full vigor and had the prospect 

 before him of a very old age. Throughout his whole captivity he 

 tamed but little, and there were few besides his keeper, Mr. 

 Passmore, who could approach him. He evinced a special an- 

 tipathy to children, and particularly to babes in the arms of nurses. 

 Mr. Passmore several times attempted to mate him with some 

 other eagles of the same species in his possession, but without 

 success, every attempt ot this kind resulting in a terrible conflict, 



