262 Cameron, The Golden Eagle in Montana. [juiv 



kept up a harsh whistle which was, undoubtedly, a lament for 

 their absent relatives. Once, when one of them lost the other, it 

 screamed incessantly from a lofty scoriaceous rock until its com- 

 panion returned. Its cries were audible for half a mile, and at- 

 tracted my wife's attention within the house. In this particular 

 the young birds differ greatly from more matured eagles which are 

 almost invariably silent and utter no sound even when caught in 

 a wolf trap. On September 6, I watched the eaglets hunting for 

 themselves, and to all appearance they flew quite as strongly as 

 the adult birds. Hence we may infer than an eagle takes three 

 months to acquire its full, and almost unrivalled aerial power. 



Mr. Oberholser in his bulletin above mentioned states that 

 "The eagle probably seldom, if ever, carries a weight of more than 

 10 or at the most 12 lbs." BetAveen these two lies the average 

 weight of the bird itself, and some English writers have recently 

 assumed that the eagle can lift and carry oft its own weight in prey 

 or even more. Having been able to devote much time to a study 

 of the habits of two pair of eagles (sixty miles apart), which nested 

 close to a ranch where I lived, I feel convinced that the carrying 

 power of the Golden Eagle is limited to a weight of eight pounds 

 at the very most. To supplement my own experience I wrote, 

 in the first instance, to Mr. James Inglis, for 30 years head keeper 

 to the late Duke of Sutherland, who has probably seen as much of 

 eagles in the Scottish Highlands as anyone now living, and sub- 

 sequently to my brother, who has resided in north Argyll for 23 

 years, and enjoyed ample opportunities for the study of wild life 

 in a wild district, where eagles breed annually. The experience 

 of both these observers on the point at issue concurred with my own. 

 They report that no authentic record exists in their experience of a 

 Golden Eagle ever carrying a heavier quarry than a mountain 

 hare (Lepiis variahilis), whose average weight is from 4 to 6 lbs., 

 or a very young hill lamb of the same, and even less weight. Mr. 

 Inglis also writes: "To give some idea what absurd stories are 

 told about eagles : last year a story went the round of the northern 

 newspapers that an eagle carried away a young child at Bonar 

 Bridge. When this was probed to the bottom it was found that 

 two boys invented the tale and sent it to the 'Northern Chronicle' 

 for fun." Mr. B. L. Anderson informs me that a Golden Eagle 



