THE OOLOGIST 



in a trap set beside a dead hen that 

 had been killed by a Western Gos- 

 hawk. In another instance a Red-tail 

 was seen hovering over a fallen fir 

 branch, under which was found a hen 

 that was badly clawed, but still alive. 

 Circumstantial evidence seemed to 

 point to the hawk as the guilty party, 

 but I feel practically sure that it was 

 the work of a Dusky Horned Owl. The 

 locality is full of these owls and it is 

 a regular habit with them to hide such 

 of their prey as they are unable to 

 eat, returning the following night for 

 another meal. I have read of a few 

 instances where stomachs of Red-tails 

 have contained fowls, but I am strong- 

 ly of the opinion that they were eaten 

 after something else had killed them. 

 The only living bird that I have act- 

 ually known them to catch was a 

 Baldpate Duck, that was wounded and 

 hiding under a bank. The Hawk, an 

 immature bird of the year, flew di- 

 rectly in front of the bow of a row- 

 boat in under a shelving bank of the 

 river, where it caught the duck and 

 carried it to the bank. In this case 

 I am firmly convinced that the hawk 

 mistook the duck for a muskrat, which 

 are commn and a favorite article of 

 diet for them. These hawks will sit 



for a long time in the top of some 

 tree directly over where flocks of 

 ducks are swimming about in the 

 water below, but the ducks never 

 seem at any time to show the least 

 signs of fear, and I have never seen 

 the hawks pay any attention to them 

 whatever. 



Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucoce- 

 phalus — Bald Eagle. Everything in 

 the animal line, with few exceptions, 

 seems to find favor with these eagles 

 as part as their bill of fare. In the 

 northwest fish seems to constitute the 

 greater part of their diet, probably the 

 greater part being eaten after it has 

 been cast ashore dead. Along the 

 coast of Alaska the Northern Bald 

 Eagle is a great pest to the fox farm- 

 ers, who raise different kinds of foxes 

 for their skins. A constant watch 

 must be kept, as the eagles are com- 

 mon and likely at any moment to 

 pounce down and carry off some three 

 hundred dollar beauty. Once in a 

 while an eagle will make a mistake, 

 as was the cause with a skin in the 

 possession of Mr. D. E. Brown, of 

 Seattle, Wash. This bird had tried to 

 dine off a porcupine, the result being 

 a throat full of quills that very 

 naturally caused its death. 



Nest and eggs of Western Willett — Photo by J. W. Sugden, Salt Lake City. 



