Birds of Indiana. 791 



Winter resident; occurs regularly, but is not common. II is said to 

 have been more numerous formerly. There is no record of its having 

 bred in Indiana; though Mr. C. L. Cass reports having observed a 

 specimen at Clear Lake, Steuben County, August 17 and 18, 1894, 

 and Dr. Joseph L. Hancock, of Chicago, saw one at Dune Park, Ind., 

 August 7, 1897. It usually is not seen until late in November. A 

 fine specimen was taken near Andersonville, November 24, 1895, and 

 was alive when last heard from, the present summer (1897). A fine 

 adult was taken near Indianapolis, November 29, 1891 (Noe). They 

 disappear irregularly, not being seen usually over the greater part of 

 the State after February, but sometimes remaining in the vicinity of 

 Lake Michigan into March, or even April. One was noted in Porter 

 County, April 25, 1887 (Trouslot). A pair were seen in Lake County, 

 March 10, 1885 (Meyer); and one at Tracy Station, Starke County, 

 March, 1884 (Coale). The greater number are seen in December, 

 January and February. The Avinter of 1881, it was noted })y Mr. 

 F. R. Quick near Brookville, three times. In 1884, once, and 1889, 

 twice, in the same vicinity. 



December 18, 1895, one was caught in a steel trap, set for a skunk, 

 and baited with a rabbit, near Fairfield, Ind. That same month one 

 was killed near Waynetown, and is now in the collection of Wabash 

 College, Crawfordsville. In addition to these, I have ten other 

 7'ecords of its recent occurrence in this State, It is most often taken 

 when the landscape is clad in snow, and the streams locked in ice. 

 Their food is scarce, and they are often taken in traps, set for animals, 

 or for owls, from which it has attempted to take the bait. While 

 the Golden Eagle will occasionally carry off lambs, young pigs and 

 poultry, and even attack animals as large as a calf, their natural food 

 is rabbits, ground-hogs, grouse, waterfowl and other game birds. 

 They are very destructive to the noxious rodents that damage the 

 fai-mers' crops. Stories of their carrying off children have been usual- 

 ly found to have orginated in the brain of man, and not in fact. 

 Prof. Stanley Coulter informs me of one of these Eagles, that was 

 killed by Mr. M. G. Jordan, Jordan Grove, White County, in Decem- 

 Ix'v, 1896. as it was hovering over a litter of little pigs. Much has 

 been said about the fierceness of tlie Golden Eagle, and its ability to 

 defend its nest, yet those who have studied its habits say these st-ite- 

 uients are false, as these birds are cowardly; leaving the nest when 

 ])ersons approach it, and not returning till danger is past. They 

 seem sometimes to mate before they leave us, in the spring. They 

 breed in the mountainous parts of America. The nest is usually 

 placed upon a projecting shelf, on the side of a high, steep cliff. In 



