264 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. [j^iy 



what I supposed to be a nest of this species, as a Rough-legged Hawk was 

 frightened from the spot by my grayhounds which had been chasing a 

 coyote. When I returned on another day the nest was deserted and I 

 took the single egg. 



69. Archibuteo ferrugineus. Ferruginous Rough-leg. — Resident but 

 never common. Appears to be larger than the last named. A female 

 of this species was caught in a wolf trap near my ranch at Terry which I 

 had preserved. Another female was shot from her nest on a badland butte 

 near the same place by A. Bright on May 9, 1899. I visited this eyrie, took 

 the two eggs, and also saw the male bird. In May.. 1905, another pair nested 

 on a Cottonwood about six miles from my ranch in Dawson County but a 

 hungry shepherd boiled and ate the three eggs. (Plate XII, Fig. 1 .) 



70. Aquila chrysaetos. Golden Eagle. — Formerly very common 

 but has become almost exterminated as a result of the high bounties 

 placed on wolves. In the early years of 1890, eagles had not learned to 

 associate danger with the presence of man and their tameness was indeed 

 remarkable. For three years, 1903,-04,-05, a pair of Golden Eagles nested 

 near my ranch in Dawson County. 1 The female of this pair met a mel- 

 ancholy fate in attempting to carry off what was beyond her strength. 

 All the shepherds had received strict injunctions from their employers 

 not to interfere with the eagles, but in this case the patience of one man 

 was tried too far. He narrated how from some distance away he saw an 

 eagle stoop at one of the dogs, and hang above it as raptorial birds are 

 wont to do when attacking ground game. The dog, not paralyzed like a 

 hare, at the proximity of the great bird, ran towards its master, when the 

 hovering and expectant eagle fixed one foot on each side of the collie's 

 throat and endeavored to bear aloft the shrieking animal. The shepherd 

 described how during the few minutes that he was running toward the 

 struggling pair and trying, incidentally, to find a stick, the eagle made 

 frantic efforts to carry away the dog, which seemed unable, when clutched 

 in this manner, to make any attempt to free itself. According to the story, 

 the bird was flying all the time, in any case flapping its wings, and, although 

 prevented from rising by the weight of the quarry, it was able to drag the- 

 helpless dog to and fro. The eagle had, in fact, too good a hold for her 

 own safety and was ignominously killed by blows on the head with a stick. 

 This event happened at the end of March when the male found another 

 mate, and with her made a new eyrie in a different situation. The dog, 

 which weighed about thirty pounds, afterwards recovered, though rather 

 badly mauled by the eagle's claws. A pair of Golden Eagles have also 

 nested in a tall pine tree for five years (1902,-03,-04,-05,-06) at Mr. J. 

 H. Price's ranch near Knowlton, Custer County, and have been strictly 

 protected. Two eggs taken from this eyrie are the handsomest I have 

 ever seen. 



1 See Cameron, Nesting of the Golden Eagle in Montana. Auk, Vol. XXII, 

 No. 2, April 1905. 



