Vol. XXII 

 1905 



Cameron, Nesting of the Golden Eagle. I CO 



killing one, although the female made good her escape by flight. 

 I felt convinced that the eagles would use the eyrie again, and 

 obtained a promise from the man's courteous employers (Undem 

 Bros.) that the eagles should not suffer further molestation no 

 matter how many lambs they might destroy. It is a curious fact 

 that although the birds had carried off several lambs prior to the 

 death of their offspring, they took none thereafter, and in 1904 

 entirely abstained from the practice, a proceeding which, with 

 sheep all around them, I cannot explain. It seems difficult to 

 believe that they connected their loss in 1903 with the theft of 

 lambs and avoided a woolly prey in consequence ; but, in the 

 absence of any other explanation, I am inclined to pay this com- 

 pliment to the extraordinary intelligence of the birds. 



The eagles' eyrie was situated near the top of a scoriacious 

 rock in the badlands, a crimson pillar which crowned a high butte 

 sloping abruptly to deep washouts. The upper part of this 

 column consisted of easily detachable pink layers, called laterite 

 by geologists, but scoriae of every color strewed the base which 

 rested on red ochre clay reminiscent of a painter's palette. 

 Placed in a hollow niche of the wall face the eyrie was entirely 

 enclosed and sheltered on three sides by a dome of rock. On the 

 fourth, and open side, the enormous sunken nest greatly over- 

 lapped the seemingly inadequate ledge, which served as a sup- 

 port, and thereby secured the safety of the eggs and young. 

 Obviously the situation was chosen to afford daily shade, for as 

 long a period as possible, to the eaglets, which, as the day wore 

 on, suffered intensely from the heat and were shaded by either 

 parent when the afternoon sun shone upon them. It was possible 

 to climb to a north ledge of the rock, immediately over and about 

 a yard above the eyrie, but the whole pillar behind was seamed 

 with a gaping fissure which threatened immediate collapse, while 

 a sheer precipice yawned to the front or west. From this pre- 

 carious position the accompanying photographs, were, neverthe- 

 less, obtained. On March 14 there was a snowstorm from the 

 north, and towards evening the eagles flew slowly across the 

 creek, on which my ranch was situated, when they were observed 

 to tumble and recover themselves in the air, much after the man- 

 ner of a Marsh Hawk, an evolution which greatly astonished me, 



