86 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-:N'o. 6 



A Trip After Golden Eagle's Eggs. 



BY J. R. CHALKER, WATSONVILLE, CAL. 



Having decided to take a trip after Golden 

 Eagle's eggs {Aquila chrtjsaetus canadensis), on 

 March 7th, 1887, I left my pleasant little room 

 and in true California tramp style, started for 

 San Benito County. 



Now the true California "rusticator," as 

 tramps here are called, always pack their 

 own blankets and sleep where night over- 

 takes them — that is mj"^ style ; 1 pack my 

 own blankets, rifle, hatchet, spy glass and 

 egg box, and sleep where night finds me. 



On March 7th, with my pack on my back, I 

 started over the dusty road that took me to San 

 Juan. Having heard from a friend of mine 

 an eagle had a nest on some high rocky cliffs 

 this side of San Juan, I determined to find it. 

 I at last saw a couple of eagles flying swiftly 

 toward a high steep rock, and one of the bii-ds 

 lit on what appeared to be a jutting ledge on 

 the face of the cliff". With my spy glass I saw 

 it was a nest. Walking to the bottom of the 

 mountain and laying down my load, I started 

 for the top, smiling to think of my luck the 

 first day, and wondering if I could not find a 

 hiding place to stow the eggs away, until I 

 returned at the end of my trip. 



With these thoughts in my mind I hurried 

 up the hill, and as I approached nearer and 

 nearer the clifis, the higher it seemed to grow. 



At last standing under the clift" I could see 

 the nest was an old one of last year's or more, 

 but I noticed in the bottom of a small cave in 

 the face of the cliff" the edge of a new nest, and 

 up above another nest. After a good look from 

 below I went above on toj) of the rock, and I 

 could then see in one of the old nests, but I al- 

 so quickly saw there was no way of getting to 

 the new nest from above, and I quickly con- 

 cluded I could not walk up the almost perpen- 

 dicular rock to the nest above some thirty or 

 forty feet ; so returning to my pack 1 thought 

 it would not be necessary to find a hiding place 

 to put the eggs away, and I also concluded no 

 other person would disturb them just at 

 present. 



Shouldering my pack I walked the rest of 

 that day, and camped at night under a water 

 tank, where I slept in a straw stack, as the 

 harvest hands in this country do. That night I 

 did some lofty thinking about that eagle's nest, 

 and concluded that in time, by means of a drill 

 and some dowels, I could reach the nest. 



In the night I awoke, and near the water 

 tank was an Old Barn Owl flying, and the 

 moon was shining brightly, while the coyotes 

 were singing or fighting (hard to tell which), 

 on the hill sides of the Gabilan Mountains. 

 The beautiful San Juan Valley seemed asleep. 

 It was a lovely night. 



I awoke very early and started for the San 

 Benito River, and having shot a rabbit I intended 

 to roast it for dinner. After crossing the San 

 Benito Kiver, and climbing over numerous barb 

 wire fences, I reached the eagle's nest of last 

 year, from which I took the handsomest set of 

 eggs I ever saw, and from which I expected to 

 obtain another set this season ; but my calcula- 

 tions were in vain, for the nest was ragged and 

 partly torn down. Continuing my journey I 

 arrived at Tres Pinos at 3 p. m. and camped 

 near the town. 



Having purchased supplies for the next few 

 days I determined to take a tiip next day to a 

 nest I found on April 5th, 1886, which then con- 

 tained two young eagles that had been hatched 

 a week or so before. At the time I found the 

 nest last year the eagles were about the size of 

 pigeons, and covered with white silvery down. 

 They were curious looking objects, with their 

 big heads, bills and eyes ; and did not seem to 

 knov>- just what to make of such a looking crea- 

 ture as I climbing up the main body of the 

 tree beside them ; for the nest was placed on a 

 limb a few feet from the main tree. On the 

 nest side of the young birds were two freshly 

 killed and partly eaten squii-rels, and the egg 

 shells that had not as yet been removed. Lat- 

 er, on May 3rd, I climbed to this nest to take a 

 last look at the young birds and found them 

 grown very large and nearly full size, and the 

 only change in the plumage was that the pri- 

 mar}' and secondary quills had grown about an 

 inch long. The young birds did not seem to 

 take much notice of me and one concluded to 

 go to sleep, but the other fellow thought I bet- 

 ter be watched. I was up in the tree more than 

 thirty minutes, and the old birds now and then 

 flew around at a distance of one hundred yards 

 or more, and then would occasionallj^ light on 

 an old dead tree high up on the side of the 

 mountain. 



On the 9th of March, of this year, I left Tres 

 Pinos to go to this nest, and arriving there I 

 found the nest torn down and no new one 

 started ; so after wandering around for two or 

 three miles to an old nest built years before, I 

 was surprised to see an eagle light on an alder 

 bush, and after taking a good sized limb in her 

 bill, snap it off" and fly away, carrying the limb 



