196 



THE GOLDKN EAGIjE AS A PET. 



The following mention of the peculiai-itios of the 

 <rolden Eagle in captivity I gleaned from conversation 

 with Mv. B. M. Everhart, the well-known botanist of 

 West Chester, Pa., who for several years kept one in 

 his yard. This bird, in consequence of a gun-shot 

 wound in the wing, was unable to fly off. All the yard 

 situated to the north and east of the liou.se was known 

 as Nero's (bird's name) domain. Along the walk lead- 

 ing to my oflice was his perch, a dead tree stump some 

 eight feet high. When satiated with food he would 

 sit there for hours at a time. If at any time during 

 the day a cat or domestic fowl happened to enter his 

 ground, it had to make a speedy departure or be killed. 

 The latter was mostly the case, for Nero seldom "went 

 for" anything without his capturing it. When I ne- 

 glected to give him his daily allowance (two pounds 

 meat), as was sometimes the case, he wandered about 

 the yard uttering a ventriloquial, gutteral sound, 

 which had the eifect of bringing around him birds and 

 chickens. Occasionally the former, and invariably 

 the latter, would be killed. Towards people, other 

 than myself, he displayed great animosity, this being 

 particularly the case with children and timorous indi- 

 viduals. One day Joshua Hoopes, a scliool teacher at 

 that time, brought a party of his boys to see the bird, 

 and I noticed one of their number, a puny and delicate 

 lad, the eagle continually eyed and several times en- 

 de.avored to make at him. A female domestic, who 

 had annoyed him by throwing water on him and pok- 

 ing at him with a stick, he showed great antipathy to ; 

 we were eventually obliged, for her personal safety 

 and our own convenience, to discharge the girl, as she 

 could nor go into the yard without being attacked. 



