28 



THE NI BIOLOGIST. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE IN CAPTIVITY. 



I received by expre.s.s from Truckee, 

 California, in August, 1892, two full grown 

 Golden Eagles, which were taken while 

 nesting from a rocky cliff on the boundary 

 line of California and Nevada. 



This bird should be represented on our 

 National Coat-of-Arms and on our coins 

 instead of the Bald Eagle, its cousin, as it 

 is a stronger and more powerful bird, more 

 majestic in appearance, handsomer in 

 plumage, and the undisputed king of the 

 feathered tribes of the United States. In 

 actual combat for supremacy over a nesting 

 place or over first choice for a piece of food 

 the Golden Eagle is " I^ord of all he sur- 

 veys," compared to the Bald Eagle, w^hich 

 has attained a cowardly and lazy reputation 

 from its habit of robbing the Fish Hawk. 



When I received these two young Eagles 

 their plumage was dirty and ruffled from 

 their confinement in the box, but they soon 

 became sleek and fine looking in their new 

 quarters, a cage fifteen feet square. They 

 were not particular about food, which con- 

 sisted of meat and birds, varied occasion- 

 ally with raw fish. In fact, anything 

 under the above head would do them, but 

 they showed a decided preference for lean 

 meat. At one time they ate readily a piece 

 of cooked beefsteak that was thrown to 

 them. Occasionally I caught live .squirrels 

 and rats and Sparrows which were soon 

 gobbled up. 



Their digestive organs are formed like 

 tho.se of an Owl. I infer this from the 

 pellets of small bones, hair and feathers that 

 ihey cast up. 



I do not know how long an Eagle will 

 live without drinking water. The blood of 

 the flesh and fowls that they ate .seemed to 

 answer the purpose of allaying their thirst, 

 but they would bathe in a big pan of 

 water. After keeping them without any 

 water for nearly two nionUts during the 

 summer and then putting a pan of water 

 before them, I watched in vain to see 

 them drink ; they didn't even wet their 



beaks. They appeared quite satisfied with 

 prison life, never having known what it 

 is to .soar above the clouds, yet they 

 would utter their shrill cries such as I have 

 heard from the wild birds. 



Donald A. Cohen. 

 Alameda, Cal. 



WHO WAS THE DEALER? 



Some little time ago I was on a collect- 

 ing trip near Newark, Cal., and being 

 belated, brought up about supper time at a 

 farm house, where I was hospitably enter- 

 tained. One of the men working on the 

 place was pointed out to me as a taxiderm- 

 ist, and so he proved — a taxidermist in 

 hard luck and working for low^ wages and 

 his board. His name I do not recall, but 

 he informed me that he had lost everything 

 in San Francisco by a fire which had de- 

 stroyed collections he had made in South 

 America worth thousands of dollars. 



He showed me a quantity of skins of 

 Red-wing Blackbirds and other species 

 stored away in a barn loft, which he ex- 

 pected to sell for milliner}' purposes. 



The interesting part of this man's re- 

 marks to me was on the subject of bird's 

 eggs. He informed me that he had re- 

 ceived an order from some dealer in the 

 East to collect for him quantities of eggs 

 of every kind he could get in California. 



He was not required to collect in sets nor to 

 take any data. To get eggs, and lots of 

 them, were his instructions. 



This man was ignorant of our birds, and 

 one can imagine how valuable his collections 

 mu.st be if he ever made any ! 



I do not wi.sh here to cast any aspersions 

 on reputable dealers, but I would give a 

 great big red apple to know the name and 

 habitation of this monumental genius who 

 wants to get eggs like these from the West 

 to sell to scientific collectors. 



The vSmithsonian Institution possesses the mo.st 

 valuable egg in the world, .says the Philadelphia 

 Times. It is an egg of the Great Auk, which be- 

 came extinct about fifty years ago. The value of 

 it is nominally |i,ooo, but it could not be pur- 

 chased for that sum. 



