88 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-lS'o. 6 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 



BltllD S , 



THEIR NESTS AND EOGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THE INTERCHANGE OF NOTES AND 

 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD AND INSECT LIFE. 



P. H. CARPENTER, Managing Editor. 



409 Washington Street, Boston, Mass, 



J. PARKER NORRIS, Oologieal Editor, 



204 South Seventh Street, Philadelphia, Penn. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher. 

 409 Washington St., Boston, Mass. 



mountain bandit, I excited no small amount of 

 curiosity. The idea of my wanting a drill 

 made was only associated in their minds with 

 mining, and I very soon began to be the object 

 of many nicely framed questions, all tending to 

 find out what and where I were working, and 

 whether 1 had struck something rich. After 

 answering some of the questions in a general 

 way to excite more curiosity, and to leave them 

 an item to talk over, I got my new drill and 

 iron dowels and started for the eagle's nest on 

 the cliff. 



Having walked a long distance that day I 

 camped early, and determined to get the eggs 

 on tlie morrow. Next morning, feeling re- 

 freshed from a sleep under a shed, I started 

 very early for the cliff. Arriving there I had 

 the pleasure of seeing the sun rise over the 

 Coast l>ange of n)ountains. Stripping off' ray 

 pack I sat down to think and rest, as the climb 

 up hill had given me a good pull. While rest- 

 ing I saw six White-throated Swifts {Cypsdus 

 saxatilis) flying around, and I presume they al- 

 so had selected this cliff" as a nesting place. 

 Taking my drill and hatchet I began to chip 

 steps here and there, and by this means got up 

 some eight or ten feet to a small platform just 

 large enough to enable me to stand and turn 

 around. Standing, I drilled a hole up as high 

 as I could conveniently reach, three inches in 

 the rock. Then descending I cut from a live 

 oak tree a limb with convenient limbs to step 



in, and fastening the smaller end to one of my 

 iron dowels I climbed up and placing the dowel 

 in the hole I had drilled, I had a safe and con- 

 venient tree ladder. I could drill another hole 

 two or four feet higher, and by using three sep- 

 arate ladders I at length arrived at the nest. (I 

 had drilled two holes before the eagle flew off 

 from the nest). Not being able to look into 

 the nest I pulled i)art of it away and found 

 among the old sticks, old squirrel bones, and 

 feathers that looked as if they wei'e placed 

 there years ago, and 1 have no doubt that this 

 same pair of birds have bred there for the last 

 decade. Looking into the nest I saw two darkly 

 marked eggs, and as ornaments one partlj^ eaten 

 S(iuirrel and six meadow mice. These were 

 probably brought to the female by the male for 

 food. Tins nest was only lined with very fine 

 grass and a few feathers. 



Placing the eggs in my side pockets I tied my 

 coat together in a bunch back of my ai'ms. and 

 with care managed to get down safely to the 

 giound. After getting my apparatus down I 

 picked up my traps and having partly blown 

 my eggs I started for home some ten miles off, 

 which I reached by nine o'clock, having had 

 one of the most successful and pleasautest trips 

 of my life. This last set of eggs were well in- 

 cubated. They were nearly spherical in shape, 

 and were marked with a dull reddish brown 

 color all over in blotches and spots. 



Since I arrived from my trip, 1 have taken 

 another set of Golden Eagle's eggs, which are 

 a cui-iosity. One egg is pure white, the other 

 bi'ightly marked with reddish brown. The 

 maikings are profuse, and the spots and 

 blotches are confluent on the larger end. The 

 nest was in a white oak tree about thirty feet 

 from the ground. It was lined with grass and 

 the long moss so plentiful in California. The 

 measurements of the four sets of Golden Ea- 

 gle's eggs that are now before me, are; First 

 set taken March 11th: 3 1-32x210-32, 3x210- 

 32 ; second set taken March 16th, have passed 

 from my hands; third set taken March 17th, 

 3 2-32 X 2 11-32, 3 1-32 x 2 10-32 ; fourth set taken 

 March 18th, 2 26-32x2 11-32, 2 30-32x2 10-32; 

 fifth set taken March 29th, 2 30-32 x 2 8-32, 2 27- 

 32 X 2 7-32. Measurements of the lighter egg in 

 the clutcli are given fii'st. The shells of all 

 are rough and slightly granulated. 



Golden J^agles are in this section growing 

 fewer and fewer each year, owing to the num- 

 bers of them that are killed by the sheep herd- 

 ers, who shoot them on every occasion in pay- 

 ment for the numbers of lambs taken each year 

 by these birds. 



