274 I^lFiS HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



92. Haliaeetus leucocephalus (LrnHJSUS). 



BALU EAGLE. 



h'nli;> It IK-DO i>)i<ihix LINNAEUS, Systema Naturae, ed. 12, I, 1766, 124. 

 Jlnlin'fus leucocephalus BoiE, Isis, 1822, 548. 



(B 41, 43, C 362, R 451, C 534, U 352.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Whole of North America and across the Aleutian chain 

 to the Commander Islands, Kamchatka. 



The Bald or American Eagle, our national emblem, is pretty generally 

 distributed over the entire United States, and breeds more or less abun- 

 dantly according to food supply along the Atlantic seacoast, from northern 

 Maine to Florida and from the Gulf of Mexico throughout the total length 

 of the Mississippi Valley and the larger streams and lakes of the interior, 

 as well as British North America, to the Arctic coast. It is quite abundant 

 on the Pacific coast, and especially common at the mouth of the Columbia 

 River, the shores of British Columbia and the Alaska mainland, as well as 

 on all the Aleutian Islands. It appears to be equally indifferent to extreme 

 heat or cold, but in the northernmost portions of its range it is only a 

 summer resident, leaving these inhospitable regions and retiring to a warmer 

 climate as soon as the rivers and lakes freeze up, which furnish it with 

 most of its food supply. 



Within the United States, it is perhaps more abundant in Florida than 

 anywhere else. Dr. William L. Ralph furnishes me the following observations 

 on this species, made principally in the immediate vicinity of Merritt Island, 

 Indian River, Florida, during February, 1886, and the two succeeding win- 

 ters. He says : " Before I discovered this paradise for these noble birds, I 

 would not have believed there were so many east of the Mississippi River 

 as I found there within a radius of a few miles ; for I not only saw them in 

 great numbers, but found, with the help of an assistant, nearly one hundred 

 occupied nests and took thirty -five sets of eggs. 



"Frequently when returning to the hotel at Rockledge, just before dark, 

 I would while crossing the island opposite the village, a distance of about a 

 mile, see fifteen or twenty Eagles, most of them birds in young plumage, 

 roosting in the trees, and it was no uncommon thing to see six or eight in 

 one flock. 



"Notwithstanding these birds were so very common, I concluded from 

 the great number of deserted nests found that they must have been more 

 abundant formerly, and, on inquiry among the inhabitants, found this to have 

 been the case. 



"These Eagles seem to breed earlier than those in other parts of Flor- 

 ida, due no doubt to the immense number of waterfowl, especially Coots 

 (Fulica americana), that frequent this vicinity during the winter, and which 

 seem to form the principal article of their food, though they will sometimes 



