THE OOLOCIST. 



.illy placed in a huge pine, many f < < 't from 

 the ground. The first nest that I found 

 was at Lake Harney, during my earliest 

 visit to the state and as I was desirous of 

 seeing what it contained, I determined to 

 cut down the tree, for all my efforts to 

 climb the huge bole, which was, at least, 

 four feet in diameter, proved fruitless. 

 Aided by an assistant, we succeeded in ac- 

 complishing the long, difficult task and 

 the huge tree which had detied the 

 gales of hundreds of years, fell with a re- 

 sounding crash to the earth. We hastened 

 to the nest which had evidently been occu- 

 pied for years, for it contained at least a 

 cart-load of sticks, many of which were de- 

 cayed. In falling, the material had be- 

 come somewhat scattered and upon pulling 

 it over, we discovered two downy young, 

 about the size of a common fowl, both of 

 which were dead, having been killed by the 

 shock. It may be assured that I was not 

 very much pleased with the result of this 

 method of investigating the contents of 

 Eagles' nests and I have never since taken 

 the trouble to cut down a tree in which 

 these birds had placed their domiciles. 



When the nest is approached, the parent 

 Eagles do not exhibit any great degree of 

 solicitude, merely flying about at long rifle 

 range and uttering a harsh cackling note. 

 They have a singular habit of dropping, at 

 suph times, when shot at and uninjured just 

 as if they had been hit, and I have seen a 

 female turn over several times, almost ex- 

 actly like a Tumbler Pigeon. The males 

 fire particularly shy; in fact he will often 

 leave the vicinity when he perceives an 

 intruder. 



On the eighth of March, I obtained young 

 partly fledged at South Lake and on the 

 nineteenth of the same month, saw the 

 young -fitting cutdde the nest; although 

 they were fully fledged and as large as 

 their parents, they were unable to fly but 

 made frequent efforts to fly in air, balanc- 

 ing themselves on one foot, while they flap- 

 ped their wings violently, but they could 

 not evidently muster up sufficient courage 

 to launch out. 



I have intimated that the White-headed 



Eagles occupy the same nests for years, and 

 that they also guard it throughout the year, 

 may be seen by the following instance. On 

 the twentieth of April, I discovered a nest 

 built in a solitary pine which stood on the 

 north end of Merritt's Island and, as the 

 Eagles were flying about it, uttering the 

 cackling note of alarm, I concluded that 

 they had eggs, so I laboriously ascended to 

 the nest which was at least fifty fiet in air 

 with but few intervening branches. When 

 under the nest, however, I found that I 

 could not get into it, as it was, at least, six 

 feet in diameter aud projected over my 

 head like a shelf. So I decended, but as 

 the Eagles still continued to fly about and 

 exhibit every mark of anxiety, I once more 

 went up to their domicile and, after great 

 exertions, succeeded in tearing away a por- 

 tion of the nest so that I could look into it. 

 when I found, much to my disgust, that it 

 contained nothing but fish bones, the 

 young having evidently left some time pre- 

 vious; in short, when I once more reached 

 the ground, I saw them, in company with 

 their parents, circling around the place 

 and since that time, I have observed Eagles 

 behaving in a similar manner late in the 

 season. 



As will be seen by the foregoing account, 

 the nests are not very easy to get into, even 

 when one succeeds in reaching them. I 

 once ascended to a nest placed in a dead 

 tree on one of those small keys which lie on 

 the extreme south coast of Florida; 

 and after making considerable effort, suc- 

 ceeded, by the aid of a limb, in getting into, 

 or rather, on to the top. I found a per- 

 fectly flat platform, about six feet in diame- 

 ter, solid in structure, where I cotrld stand 

 upright or even move about. It was emp- 

 ty, and after spending some time in 

 examining the adjacent country, of which 

 my elevated situation afforded an excellent 

 prospect, I attempted to descend but, to 

 my astonishment, this was not an easy task 

 as I could not see the limb by which I had 

 ascended, for it was a mere stub and did 

 not project above the edge of the nest 

 which was, at least, four feet thick. I was 

 alone, my men having gone to the yacht 



