General Notes. 59 



the Eagle the Coots all huddled together, remaining so during his rest, 

 swimming about aimlessly and easting uneasy glances up in the direction 

 of their enemy. The moment the Eagle lifted himself from his perch. 

 the Coots seemed to press towards a common centre until they were 

 packed so closely together that they had the appearance of a large black 

 mantle upon the water; they remained in this position until the Eagle 

 made his first swoop, when they arose as one bird, making a great noise 

 with their wings, and disturbance with their feet which continued to 

 touch the water for the first fifty or one hundred feet of their flight. This 

 seemed to disconcert the Eagle who would rise in the air only to renew 

 his attack with great vigor. 



•■These maneuvres were kept up, the Eagle repeating his attack with 

 marvelous rapidity, until, in the excitement and hurry of flight, three or 

 four Coots got separated from the main body; this circumstance the Eagle 

 was quick to discover and take adyantage of; it was now easy work to 

 single out his victim, but usually long and hard to finally secure it. I 

 have never seen him leave the field of battle, however, without a trophy 

 of his prowess, though I have seen him so baffled in his first attempts to 

 separate the birds, that he was compelled to seek his tree again to rest. 



"On one occasion, after separating his bird from the flock, he spent 

 some minutes in its capture — the Coot eluding him by diving; this fre- 

 quent rebuff seemed to provoke the Eagle to such an extent that he finally 

 followed it under the water — remaining some seconds — so long, indeed, 

 that I thought him drowned; he finally appeared, however, with the bird 

 in his talons, but so weak and exhausted that he could scarcely raise him- 

 self above the water, and for the first thirty or forty yards of his flight his 

 wings broke the surface of the water; very slowly he made his way to 

 the nearest tree, where he alighted, on the lowest limb, to recover his 

 spent strength. 



••One more incident: I had crept up on a small batch of Coots and 

 discharged one barrel of my gun at them, killing one, and was about to 

 start out tor a boat to pick it up. when I was startled by an Eagle swoop- 

 ing down upon my dead bird: he had it in his talons before I could get 

 my gun to shoulder, but I quickly discharged the contents of the other 

 barrel at him. which had the effect of making him drop mv bird and go 

 screaming away : thinking he might return. I began to reload ray gun. 

 and had barely finished one barrel, when, sure enough, he made another 

 attempt to steal my game ; in my haste I fired before he was within range, 

 or I might have added him to my bag. 1 got my Coot. 



••1 have also Seen him chase the Eish Hawk, and force him to drop his 

 fish which lie immediately secured for himself'. 



■• This. I think, will cover the extent of mv own observations, though 1 

 am credibly informed that he has been seen to capture squirrels, rabbits. 

 and even chickens." 



This last statement is confirmed by an account given me last spring bv 



a resident in Nassau Co., Florida, on the St. Mary's River, who complain- 



