152 ZOOLOGY. 



This eagle is a constant resident, and, I believe, lavs its eggs as early as February, though I 

 never examined a nest at that season. I never saw it dive for fish or pursue unwounded 

 birds, but have seen it settle for a moment on the water to secure a dead fish, closing its wings. 

 It is a great pest to the sportsman, being always on the lookout for wounded birds, which it 

 seizes almost from his grasp. It will sometimes sit for hours on the beach among gulls, crows, 

 and ravens, which are quite unconcerned at its presence. 



The young of this species seems to prefer the seacoast, and is generally supposed to be 

 another species by the name of "grey eagle." It seems to dilTer in the greater breadth of the 

 wings and tail, which, however, depends on the form of the feathers only. The coloring is very 

 variable, not only the head and tail, but the back and breast being mottled, and sometimes 

 entirely white. These varieties might easily be mistaken for species before the regular change of 

 plumage was fully demonstrated. During the journey northward to the 49th degree, I saw numbers 

 of eagles along the Columbia, commonly sitting on some log or cliff over the water. In Santa 

 Clara county, Cahfornia, I saw a nest of this bird large enough to fill a wagon. It was built in 

 a large sycamore tree, standing alone in the prairie, and but a short distance from several farm 

 houses. On my shooting a magpie from the tree, one of the eagles came from a distance and 

 flew round to reconnoitre, though, as it was November, they probably had no eggs or young in 

 it. The farmers not having molested it, I suppose the eagles were not troublesome, and 

 probably found enough to eat among the great numbers of cattle dying on those plains. 



I have never seen this eagle about the high mountain tops, and on the plains east of the 

 Rocky mountains it is a rare visitor. — C. 



This noble looking bird is exceedingly abundant in Oregon and Washington Territories, and 

 in certain localities, especially during the salmon season, maj^ be found in great numbers. De 

 Smet, in his work on " Oregon Missions," speaks of their abundance about the shores of several 

 of the large lakes on the upper Columbia, where they find, during certain months of the year, 

 an easy subsistence, owing to the vast numbers of dead and dying salmon which line the water 

 margin. While crossing the continent with Governor Stevens' party in 1853 I succeeded in 

 obtaining a pair of young birds alive, from an eyrie built in a tree on the borders of Lake Jessie, 

 Minnesota. They were forwarded to the Smithsonian Inst'n, and deposited in the collection of 

 living creatures kept for the amusement of the patients at the lunatic asylum near Washington 

 city. On my canoe voyage from the Rocky mountains to Fort Vancouver, I frequently passed 

 these birds, at times sitting alone, or in pairs, in the trees over the river banks, or perched on 

 the high cliffs overhanging the wild streams of the mountains. They appeared quite tame and 

 frequently permitted an approach Mithin easy rifle shot. Sometimes one or two might be seen in 

 company with a few little impudent looking crows, dividing the remains of a dead and putrid 

 salmon which had been washed up on the shores of the Columbia. These dead salmon appear to 

 afford the principal nourishment to the eagles, crows, and coyotes of that region. 



Mr. Geo. Gibbs says that he has seen the present bird alight in deep water, and rest upon it 

 like a gull. 



The measurements of the Oregon specimens seem to be greater than those of the Atlantic. 



I think that this bird, in Oregon, does not depend mxich on the prey captured from the ospre}', 



as the latter bird is not at all abundant there, but rather, as above stated, on the dead bodies 



'of fish which are cast up on the shores of the coast, bays, and rivers, becoming thus vulture- 



