DESCRIPTIVE LIST 171 



A live Golden Eagle that was kept in Pullen Park, near Raleigh, for years, came 

 originally as affirmed by Mr. Howell, the park keeper from Fender County. 



This species presumably builds its nest on the cliffs of the higher mountains, 

 but we have no record of eggs or eaglets having been found in the State. The 

 nests are bulky structures of sticks and twigs, usually placed on some exposed 

 rocky ledge, but sometimes tall trees are used for the purpose. The eggs are gener- 

 ally two in number and have a rough shell, which is of a dirty white ground-color, 

 sometimes without markings and sometimes blotched and spotted with various 

 shades of brown. Size about 2.95 x 2.35. 



FIG. 130. GOLDEN EAGLE. FIG. 131. FOOT OP GOLDEN EAGLE. 



Genus Haliseetus (Sav.) 

 155. Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus (Linn.). BALD EAGLE. 



Description. Dark brown, with feathers of head and tail white in adult, whole plumage blackish 

 with white mottlings in young until three years of age. Known in all stages from the Golden 

 Eagle by the tarsus not being feathered. Bill in adult yellow; in immature, plumage black. 

 L., 33.00 to 36.00; W., 22.00 to 24.00; spread of wings about 7 ft. 



Range. Whole of North America. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State, but only common in the coastal region; rare or occa- 

 sional elsewhere. 



The Bald Eagle, our National emblem, is not an abundant species in North Caro- 

 lina except in the coast-country, breeding always, so far as we have observed, near 

 large bodies of water. Hatteras Island was a favorite nesting place a few years 

 ago, before the sawmill had eaten its way through the woods. Residents on the 

 island speak of three breeding pairs, and Pearson captured two young there, early 

 in May, 1898, which evidently had but just left the nest. On April 21, 1898, he 

 was shown a nest on Roanoke Island, Dare County, from which a young bird had 

 recently been removed. He secured the eaglet and sent it to the State Museum, 

 where it was kept alive for many months. The shores of Core and Currituck 

 sounds are other places where nests have more or less recently been recorded. 

 The eggs are two or three in number, dull white, and are deposited in a nest which 

 is often four or five feet in thickness. The same eyrie is frequently used for many 



