THE OOLOOIST. 



107 



discovery of the nest until years after- 

 ward when I became fully informed 

 ■upon the status of the Chickadees of 

 this locality, and knew what I was 

 writing about when I gave the record 

 as unique for Philadelphia county. 

 The Black-capped Chickadee (Pen- 

 thres atricapillus) does not breed in 

 Philadelphia coimty, Pa. 



RICHARD F. MILLER, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Hunting Eagles' Nests. 



Mr. Crispin, a celebrated tree climb- 

 er and Oologist of Salem Co., N. J., 

 and the writer having contemplated 

 a trip after Bald Eagles' eggs for some 

 time, have the following notes to sub- 

 mit to the readers of this paper. A 

 friend of mine, well acquainted with 

 the country, volunteered to go along 

 with us; that made a "crowd" which 

 was full of the right spirit that ulti- 

 mately leads to success. 



Mr. Crispin had been over some of 

 ithe ground before and therefore was 

 not a total stranger as to where the 

 Bald Eagles nested. He collected an 

 addled egg about three years ago from 

 one nest that we visited yesterday, 

 also a young bird, but since then they 

 have deserted the place and from in- 

 formation and experience we gained 

 were led to believe they do not re- 

 turn to a nest after it has been robbed 

 of its' young. 



Having failed on our first attempt, 

 we walked some three or four miles 

 to another nest that Mr. Crispin had 

 taken two eggs from two years ago 

 after going up 100 feet from the 

 ground. As we approached the place 

 and could not locate the nest, Mr. 

 ■Crispin went to a nearby farm house 

 to make inquiry regarding the' tree, 

 and they informed him that it was 

 cut down in order to destroy the nest. 

 This was bad news for us after trav- 

 eling first 18 miles by train, six miles 



by wagon and ten miles on foot. The 

 farmer next informed us that two Bald 

 Eagles were building "just over thar," 

 which proved to be not more than 500 

 yards from the house. We could not 

 see the nest at first owing to the dense 

 woods, but soon noticed one of the 

 birds sitting in a tree, and when We 

 neared the nest the other flew away. 

 The nest was placed in a pin-oak, 

 7.5 feet from the ground and impos- 

 sible to climb owing to its large size 

 and the many small dead branches 

 that covered the trunk. 



The nest was an immense affair, 

 made of coarse sticks that were much 

 darker in color than the one we had 

 visited earlier in the day, after being 

 exposed to the weather for several 

 years; the nest being new was much 

 shallower than the one that had been 

 used several times and rebuilt. As 

 it was impossible to climb the tree a 

 consultation was held and it was de- 

 cided that Mr. Crispin climb a gum 

 tree that grew near it and look into 

 the nest. It was necessary for him to 

 go up to the top, some 80 feet, and 

 after great effort he was able to de- 

 clare that the bird had not com- 

 menced to lay. 



March 5th was the date decided on 

 to go this year because the set taken 

 two years ago on March 10th, was 

 badly incubated, and both eggs were 

 broken while trying to blow them. The 

 severe winter this year no doubt made 

 the birds late owing to the sticks be- 

 ing frozen fast and having a new nest 

 to build. 



We went back to the farm house 

 and had a little talk with three boys 

 who lived there, and after some good 

 advice and a pecuniary reward they 

 promised to get the eggs later on. 

 Our next move was to hire a team 

 and drive about five miles lower down 

 the bay, where we found a man who 

 declared he knew of eight or ten 



