150 



THE OOLOGIST 



NEWSPAPER ORNITHOLOGY 



An Investigation of Newspaper Report 



That Eagle Kills Boy 



On page 97 of the present volume 

 of The Oologist attention is called to 

 an article in the Ventura California 

 Post reporting the death of a Mexican 

 boy due to the attack of an Eagle. Our 

 editor adds that he hopes the truth- 

 fulness of the report will be investigat- 

 ed by some bird student in the lo- 

 cality. 



I have made an investigation of the 

 story, which also appeared as a lead- 

 ing news item on the first page of our 

 Oakland paper and probably was pub- 

 lished in still other papers. The re- 

 sult of my inquiry into the matter is 

 interesting and also contains a moral, 

 viz: not to study ornithoolgy from a 

 newspaper. 



The following account was given in 

 the paper referred to in the edition or 

 June 8th: "Juan Gonzales, aged eleven, 

 was killed by an eagle on a stock 

 ranch, twelve miles north of Ventura 

 last Sunday The boy climbed a tree 

 to look at the bird's nest and was at- 

 tacked before he could escape. His 

 skull was punctured in three places by 

 the bird's beak." 



Being very skeptical as to the truth 

 of such an account, I wrote a letter to 

 Mr. L. P. Hathaway, coroner of Ven- 

 tura County, enclosing a copy of the 

 newspaper clipping and asking him to 

 verify the death of the boy. Mr. 

 Hathaway replied as follows: "Dear 

 Mr. Stoner: Regarding the story of 

 the horrible work of eagles in Ventura 

 County, will say, on June 1 a Mexican 

 boy employed on Ranch Sespe between 

 Fillmore and Santa Paula, appeared at 

 the office of Dr. Merrill in Santa Paula, 

 with his little son who was ill; 

 had been ill for some time. Dr. 

 Merrill informs me that in taking 

 the 'history' of the case he asked the 

 parent or parents if the lad had 



suffered injury within the past few 

 weeks. They said the only chance he 

 had had of being injured was when he 

 fell from a tree several weeks ago, 

 blackbirds had flapped about his head 

 when he attempted to interfere with 

 their young, and frightened, he had 

 fallen a short distance. 



Dr. Merrill made an effort to locate 

 bruises or breaks, but it was not until 

 he had bathed the lad and shaved his 

 head for the removal of cooties, that 

 he could determine as to outward ap- 

 pearances; he informs me there were 

 no bruises and no "holes in the skull" 

 or even in the scalp, or indications 

 that there had been any. 



The illness was then diagnosed as 

 'peritonitis' because, the possibility of 

 outward injury eliminated, this seemed 

 the only result that could be arrived 

 at. The lad died on June 2nd and 

 the death certificate was 'peritonitis.' 

 A Spanish vaquero heard the black- 

 bird end of the yarn, proceeded to 

 imagine the wounds on the head, and 

 the business manager of the vaquero's 

 employer brought the embellished 

 story to Ventura. It needed further 

 embellishment and a willing news- 

 paper reporter did the rest." 



Thus it is that many of our large 

 birds are condemned unjustly. I have 

 read newspaper accounts in which an 

 eagle is reported to have carried off, 

 or attempted to carry off, young chil- 

 dren. I believe there is no case, how- 

 ever, which is authentic, or has been 

 verified, even of an eagle seriously 

 harming a human being. 



A large percentage of our population 

 has little knowledge of bird life and 

 its value, with the result that pre- 

 judice against a large bird, especially 

 the raptores, is easily aroused, and re- 

 ports such as the one quoted above 

 must be considered detrimental to 

 bird conservation. 



Emerson A. Stoner, 

 Benicia, California. 



