THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



Quite a number of eggs have been taken in California during the last 

 ten years, and the nests were nearly all placed in trees. Dr. Arthur Lemoyne, 

 in his "Notes on Some Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains of North Caro- 

 lina," published in the Ornithologist, and Oiilogist (Vol. xi, 1886, p. 148), 

 mentions taking a set of these eggs in the same year on Bald Mountain, North 

 Carolina, the only recent eastern record I Imve seen. 



But one brood is raised in a season, and if the first set of eggs is taken 

 the birds will not lay a second one that year. Mr. Steinbeck, however, 

 believes that the same pair of birds from which he took a set of eggs on 

 February 26, 1885, repaired another old nest in the vicinity, and this con- 

 tained a single egg on March 28, when it also was taken. The pair of bin Is 

 from which I obtained several sets of eggs while stationed at Camp Harney, 

 Oregon, used two nests about a mile and a half apart in the same caflon, 

 but on opposite sides. The year after I took the young they used the second 

 nest, and the following spring returned to the first one again. At no time, 

 however, was a second set of eggs laid the same season, although the birds 

 remained in the vicinity the entire year. 



The Grolden Eagle generally lays two eggs, rarely three, and I believe 

 these produce birds of different sexes. The U. S. National Museum collection 

 contains a set of three eggs of this species taken by Mr. James McDougall, 

 of the Hudson Bay Company, near Fort Yukon, Alaska, in the spring of 

 1868, and Mr. William Steinbeck informs me that he also took a set of three 

 on March 21, 1891. These last eggs had been incubated for probably three 

 or four days and were all fertile. One of the eggs is almost invariably a 

 trifle larger than the other. Several days, sometimes a week passes between 

 the laying of the eggs. Incubation lasts about four weeks, and from per- 

 sonal observation I believe the male does not take part in this to any great 

 extent, but supplies his mate with food while she is so engaged. The young 

 when first hatched are covered with white down and grow very rapidly, but 

 it takes fully two months or more before they are able to fly and leave the 

 nest. They remain in company with the parents but a short time, and are 

 cjist off as soon as they are able to take care of themselves. The usual 

 rail note is a shrill u kec.',-kee,-kee," uttered in a high tone; it is often 

 heard in the early spring before nidification commences. Another note, not 

 so frequently used one of alarm is "kiah-kiah," repeated a number of times. 



The eggs vary from an ovate to a short ovate. Their shell is coarse, thick, 

 and roughly granulated. The ground color is a dirty white, in some speci- 

 mens approaching a pale cream color. The markings of these eggs vary 

 greatly, one set in the U. S. National Museum collection being almost pure 

 white, without a spot of any kind on them, excepting a few stains. Others 

 are thickly blotched and spotted with various shades of brown, claret, walnut 

 and ferruginous brown predominating. Some are principally marked with fine 

 spots and blotches of drab color and viuaceous rufous. In a few specimens 

 pearl gray and lavender shell markings, sparingly overlaid with darker tints, 



