THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 413 



a stout birchen staff I worked my way over to a secure footing within a dozen 

 feet of the nest. The remaining distance was a nasty bit of climbing, and I 

 preferred to await the first onslaught of the outraged parents where there 

 would be some chance for defense. Fudge! The fire-eating birds appeared 

 once or twice in the middle distance, but paid no more attention to the peril of 

 their offspring than as if I had been a Magpie, coveting the crumbs from the 

 royal table. 



Three weeks later I revisited the nest and put the eaglets to flight. One 

 of the old birds came up and superintended the gliding downfall of the least 

 capable child, but seeing her safely upon the ground immediately went away 

 marmot-hunting in perfect unconcern. If there is one bird above another of a 

 gentle and unsuspecting nature, I judge the Golden Eagle to be that bird. But 

 doubtless this also is a hasty generalization. 



On the cliffs of Eocene formation near Fossil, Wyoming, I once located a 

 Golden Eagle's nest. The material of which these hills are composed is a kind 

 of volcanic ash, very friable, and the birds had chosen for their eyrie a cranny 

 in the very middle of one of the wildest of these fossil-bearing cliffs and at a 

 height of some seventy feet. It was practically inaccessible even by rope, for 

 the cliff is perpendicular and deeply fissured by the action of the weather, so that 

 the flying buttresses thus formed are ready to part and crumble at a breath. A 

 pair of Prairie Falcons (quite similar to our Peregrines) had a nest in the 

 "next block" and they appeared to make a practice of persecuting the Eagles 

 just for sport. I saw one of the Eagles launch out from his nest for a course 

 across the broad valley. A Falcon took after him, altho the Eagle had a big 

 lead. "A race", thought I. Woof, woof, woof, went the Eagle's wings ; clip, 

 clip, clip, clip, went the Falcon's. Inside of a mile the smaller bird made up 

 the distance, scratched His Majesty's crown with his noble toes, and was up 

 in the ether a hundred yards before the Eagle could do a thing. This pro- 

 cess was repeated until the gentle pair passed from sight, but a few minutes 

 later the Falcon returned to his perch chuckling hugely. 



In Ohio the Golden Eagle is surmised to be only a winter visitor. As such 

 it is not infrequently seen in various parts of the state and is occasionally cap- 

 tured in traps or shot while inspecting some poultry yard or pig-pen. The in- 

 juries inflicted by the birds are usually trifling, but might become serious if 

 they were at all numerous. 



Professor Jones, in his recent catalog, notes four records for Lorain 

 County within the last five years, and, on the authority of Mr. Harry B. Mc- 

 Connell, three captured near Cadiz within the past three years. An apparent 

 exception to the ranks of winter visitors was one seen by myself on the Lake 

 Erie shore near Lorain on the 29th of August, 1898. The appearance is no 

 evidence of a near breeding range, however, since these birds wander far in 

 search of food, and especially after the young are able to shift for themselves. 



