THE BALD EAGLE. 415 



Bald Eagles are chiefly resident wherever found within the state. The 

 Lake Erie shore and islands in the vicinity of Sandusky constitute the only 

 region where the birds are at all common, but isolated nests occur along the 

 Lake front at considerable intervals both east and west. Eagles appear 

 regularly at the larger reservoirs, and it is probable that a few breed near by, 

 altho their numbers are augmented in winter either by visiting Sandusky 

 birds, or by those which have been compelled to fall back from the northern 

 limits of the British American range. 



The bird subsists chiefly upon fish and these it secures by robbing the 

 more expert Fish Hawk, or by independent plunging. More frequently it 

 seizes weak or wounded fish which have come to the surface of the water to 

 die, or else patrols the shore to pick up whatever largess of fish or offal may 

 have been cast up by the waves. Frequently the Eagle may be observed sit- 

 ting upon some high stub in the center of reservoir island or lake marsh, 

 where it may command a wide sweep of territory, and from which it may 

 descend from time to time for more particular scrutiny of suspected objects. 

 A bird thus seated is. one of the most picturesque features of any landscape, 

 and for one who loves the water the sight is well nigh indispensable. In 

 winter, I am told, the Eagles sometimes appear in considerable numbers at 

 Licking Reservoir, where they find sustenance by watching near air-holes in 

 the ice for such fish as occasionally seek the surface. 



That the Bald Eagle is not exclusively piscivorous is attested by Captain 

 Bendire in the following words : "Some of our earlier writers speak in rather 

 uncomplimentary terms of our national bird, stigmatizing it as a robber and 

 tyrant, and as feeding principally on fish stolen from the Osprey, and on car- 

 rion. This is not strictly true. According to my observations the Bald Eagle 

 lives to a great extent at least on prey captured by its own exertions, principally 

 on wounded water fowl. When engaged in the chase of a flock of Geese, 

 Brant, Ducks, or other water birds, on which it subsists almost entirely, when 

 such are procurable, it is by no means the sluggish lazy bird some writers would 

 have us believe, but the peer in swiftness, dash, and grace of any of our Rap- 

 tores." Professor Butler adds that altho the birds sometimes feed upon lambs, 

 small pigs and poultry, mice and other rodents form a more important article 

 of food, and all in all they may be considered "to belong to that class of ra- 

 pacious birds whose lives are beneficial." 



"Nidification begins early. In Florida and other parts of the Gulf Coast 

 eggs are sometimes deposited in the early part of November, but generally from 

 the ist to the 15th of December. In the Middle States they nest occasionally in 

 the beginning of February, Mr. Thomas H. Jackson taking a full set of 



