92 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Habits. The Bald eagle frequents the shores of lakes and rivers and 

 chooses a sightly perch from which to scan the surface of the water for 

 the dead fish which constitute its principal food in summer time. It is 

 frequently seen also high in air soaring about in search of some dead sheep 

 or other offal, which it seems to prefer next after fish, and I have seen it 

 on several occasions set its wings when at a great height and descend to 

 an ignoble repast of dead calf or other vulturine provender. Its power 

 of sight is justly famous, but it is scarcely probable that it surpasses that 

 of other raptores. Once I watched an eagle that was soaring at a great 

 altitude above me when all at once he caught sight of a dead fish floating 

 on the surface of the lake and, making a direct line for the fish, snatched 

 it from the water and bore it off to shore. The fish I found by subsequent 

 computation was three miles from the spot over which the eagle was soaring 

 and I could not see the fish in the eagle's talons at the time it was picked 

 from the water although I was using a pair of six power field glasses. It is 

 possible, however, that even a man could have seen the fish from the eagle's 

 station in the air as a white spot on the water. When the eagle does not 

 find sufficient supply of dead fish it will rob the Fishhawk of its booty, 

 as is well known by all naturalists, and will even take live fish from the 

 water, but can not be compared with the Osprey as a fisherman, and probably 

 does not even equal the Red-shouldered hawk or Barred owl in this accom- 

 plishment. In the winter this eagle often attacks water fowl successfully, 

 but can not easily capture the diving species when they are on the water. 

 I have seen an eagle make repeated attacks upon a Canvasback duck 

 which dove at every swoop of the eagle and finally escaped. Some have 

 objected that the habits of this eagle scarcely entitle it to be chosen as the 

 emblem of our native land, but its appearance, when soaring in the clouds 

 or perched on the tip of a lofty pine tree, is truly majestic. The scream of 

 the eagle resembles somewhat the voice of the seagull; others have likened 

 it to the bark of a fox or of a small dog, and Doctor Ralph called attention 

 to the difference in the notes of the sexes, the male's cry being a high 



