FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 319 



that niiiy liave adhered to the beak by scratching it witli their talons or 

 nilibinLT it against the bars of their cage. Several of these birds, in confine- 

 ni(!iit, especially tiie female referred to, when their cage was approached, 

 would endeavor to attack Mr. MacFarlane, descending from their sleeping-pole 

 and making a rusii at tiie front bars of tlie cage, spreading tlie wings and 

 flaj)ping them witli great force, and making active demonstrations with beak 

 and talons. Occasionally tliey would get out of their cages ; tlien it was no 

 easy matter to get them back again, as, wlien approacheil, they would tlu'ow 

 tliemselves on tiieir backs and thrust out their talons in tiie most fornuda- 

 ble manner. Tiiey nest as early as tiie last of A])ril or early in May, as 

 largely developed embryos were found on the 27th of May. Wlien tiieir 

 nests were pillaged they generally deserted them ; but in one instance, wiiere 

 tlie female had been snared upon her nest, and the eggs taken, the same 

 nest was occupied the following season by the male with another mate. The 

 new mate was shot, and proved to be a mature bird. Almost invariably the 

 male birds were too wary to bo either shot or taken in a snare. Two of 

 the nests of this bird, pointed out by the Indian.s, appeared to have been used 

 for several years, and had been known to their discoverers for six or seven 

 years previous. The nests taken were in about latitude 6'.)° 30'. 



In one jiaiticular case a nest had been discovered two years ])reviously by 

 MacFarlanci's Ksipiiiiio interpreter. It had been occujiied that season, and 

 a pair of Eagles had lieen recognized as its inmates. In 1863 the nest was 

 known to have been reoccupied, though he did not visit it. On the 17tli 

 of ]\Iay, 1804, he went to it and found both Eagles engaged in repairing it. 

 The female apj)cared to act as the builder, and the male as the carrier of the 

 materials, as well as the provider of provisions. The nest was not complete, 

 and contained two half-eaten Ptarmigans, but no eggs. It was built against 

 the face of a steep bank of a small stream, and was of considerable bulk. 

 When first constructed, the nest of this Eagle is comparatively small, but as 

 it is reiunatcd every season, it ultimately becomes large and bulky. A 

 quantity of dry sticks and twigs are laid lengthways over the greater ])ortion 

 of the jilatform of the previous season, and the sj)aces between are filled up 

 by smaller twigs, mosses, and hay, and the centre is then covered with the 

 two latter ingredients, intermixed with deer's hair, etc. This annual addition 

 varies in thickness I'rom three to eighteen inches. In no instance did Mr. 

 MacFarlane find or hear of any accumulation of bones or other debris of food 

 either on or in the neighborhood of the nests. In three instances the nests 

 were constructed in the tojjs of tall pines. In these cases the sandy nature 

 of the soil did not favor their building on the sides of cliffs. 



Tlie " Mountain Eagle," as this sjiecies is called throughout the western 

 regions of the United States, was found by ]Mr. Kidgway to be a common 

 sjiecies througliout the Oreat Basin along the line of the 40tli parallel. It 

 was daily seen soaring about the mountains, and nested on inaccessible cliffs. 

 A pair — the female leading — were observed to give chase to a Sage Hen 



