Vol. XXII 

 iqos 



Cameron, Nesting- of the Golden Eagle. j ()C 



two months they were about three parts grown. At this time a 

 description of their plumage is as follows. Whole body and tail 

 darkest chocolate brown, excepting the fluffy white crop and chin, 

 the latter brown streaked. Legs" dull white, streaked with pale 

 brown in the male, and tawny in the female. Iris dark hazel ; 

 bill bluish slate; cere and angle of mouth yellow; claws black. 



In 1903 observations could only be made on the female eaglet 

 after it had moulted, as the male was killed by a shepherd before 

 it could fly, as above stated. In this bird, which lingered about 

 my ranch until April, the basal two thirds of the tail became 

 white, and she showed a great deal of white under the primaries 

 and elsewhere when flying, which was otherwise unobservable. 



Her mother was, apparently, but two years old in the spring of 

 1903, and while, in 1904, I often approached within a yard I saw 

 no concealed white, as she flew off, which seems to show that 

 this is lost after the second moult. On the other hand, as the 

 white band encompasses nearly half of her tail, I am led to sup- 

 pose that maturity is reached at about five years but would be 

 glad to know the real facts. The male, which was seen in imma- 

 ture plumage for two years, moulted into full adult dress in 1903, 

 and being more than twice the age of his mate eclipses her in size 

 and appearance although the reverse is usually the case. Absence 

 of white anywhere on the body easily distinguishes him, the entire 

 tail looking black, although it may be marbled with brown, and 

 while the crown and nape (the cowl), are really cream color they 

 look white at a distance in marked contrast to black cheeks and 

 chin. 



In the early nineties eagles were very common in Montana and 

 very tame, but became almost exterminated as a result of the high 

 bounties placed on wolves. At this period eastern Montana 

 swarmed with professional wolfers, occupied in destroying wolves 

 by poison and otherwise so that no one could keep dogs at all, 

 and the game, as well as the eagle, was almost wiped out. 



A wolfer would "string out a line of baits," as he called it, 

 from one creek to another ; which simply meant that deer and 

 antelope were shot down wholesale in a line across country, the 

 carcasses filled with strychnine, and the poisoned baits scattered 

 around. When the weather became too cold for strychnine to 



