40 



THE OOLOGIST 



3 nest showed evidence of having been 

 fussed over a little it was abandoned, 

 as were all the nests in the upper 

 canon and the birds moved away. In 

 March we were honored, and it is 

 needless to say pleased by a visit 

 from the editor of The Oologist, who 

 stopped over for a couple of days on 

 the way overland from Los Angeles to 

 San Diego. He promised to stop again 

 on his return, so Mr. Dixon and Mr. 

 Schnack, who, though not an orni- 

 thologist, is considerable of an enthu- 

 siast, and remarkably well posted in 

 matters ornithological, got busy. Act- 

 ing on some information obtained from 

 a Mexican rancher, a systematic two 

 days search was made of a section 

 of country not hitherto explored by us 

 with the result of the discovery of 

 two more very old and long abandon- 

 ed nests in oak trees and other newly 

 rebuilt nest, also in an oak, where a 

 few days later Mr. Barnes had the 

 pleasure of gazing on his first set of 

 Golden Eagles eggs in situ. This nesl 

 was about 30 feet from the ground; 

 the tree standing on a steep hillside. 

 It is an immense affair of sticks, 

 large and small, lined with strips of 

 Cottonwood inner fibre, willow, small 

 twigs of oak with leaves attached, 

 dry leaves of corn and leaves of the 

 Spanish bayonet plant. It measures 

 about 4 feet in diameter by 5 in 

 height. The nest proper being only 

 a slight depression which would be 

 deepened and enlarged by the bird in 

 in incubating the eggs. The photo- 

 graph of this nest by Mr. Dixon, well 

 shows its immense size and location. 

 It is one of the best built and largest 

 nests we have ever found here. In 

 addition to the nests here given, there 

 are several very old and dilapidated 

 nests in the rock piles in the hil!s, 

 long abandoned, evidently nests in the 

 past, though scarcely more than rem- 

 nants now, and there are doubtless 



many more unknown to us, for thei-e 

 are many large rock heaps that we 

 have never visited and much of the 

 country we have never hunted over 

 at all. 



During the two years, 1905 and 1909, 

 when no eggs were taken, it is prob- 

 able that the birds occupied the 1908 

 nest and the No. 6 nest in the tree, 

 this opinion being based on the gen- 

 eral condition of these nests when 

 found. 



Altogether I have personal knowl- 

 edge of some 20 or more nests of the 

 Golden Eagle, belonging to five pairs 

 of birds, that are occupied with more 

 or less regularity. These are mostly 

 in reck piles or on ledges, a few in 

 trees. It has been my experience 

 that the nests in trees are always larg- 

 er, more bulky, more built up, and I 

 believe would contain more cubic feet 

 of material than the nests built on 

 ledges, and they are also much better 

 built. The nests on ledges generally 

 occupy the entire ledge, which is not 

 a very large one as a general thing, 

 and do not appear to require the 

 amount of rebuilding that the tree 

 nests do, the new material appearing 

 to be placed mainly on the front and 

 more exposed portions of the nest. I 

 have generally found them better lined 

 however. Mr. Dixon does not wholly 

 agree with me on this point and of 

 course no positive rule can be laid 

 down, as the birds doubtless build as 

 their tastes and needs demand. 



It is probable that no more remark- 

 able series of eggs ever gathered to- 

 gether than these eggs, all that are 

 known, of these Eagles. The size of 

 an average egg is about 2.95 by 2.30 

 inches. In 1904, when preparing my 

 Condor paper, I obtained all the in- 

 formation possible as to large eggs, 

 both in this country and abroad, from 

 all oologists whom I knew to have 

 large series of eggs of the species. 



