188 BIRDS 



leisure. Dead fish cast up on the beach, carrion, sea and 

 shore birds are devoured by this rapacious feeder. Ducks, 

 geese, gulls, and notably coots, that he condescends to 

 catch himself, are favorite morsels when fish fail. It is 

 said wounded ducks suit this unsportsmanlike hunter best. 

 These are picked clean of feathers before the flesh is torn 

 from their bones. In the interior young domestic animals 

 are carried off, but scientists raise their eyebrows at tales of 

 children being borne away by eagles. 



When the nesting season approaches, which in the South 

 begins in February and at the far North in May, the eagles 

 may be seen hunting in couples and soaring in great spirals 

 with majestic calm at a dizzy height. As they swoop 

 earthward, the tops of the trees over which they pass sway 

 in the current of air created by the feathered monoplanes. 

 These birds, like most of their class, remain mated through- 

 out their long life, but often quarrel out of the mating 

 season when one encroaches upon the proscribed territory 

 where the other is hunting. Now they are especially 

 noisy: cac-cac-cac screams the male, a sound too like a 

 maniac's laugh to be pleasant. The cry of the female is 

 more harsh and broken, suflSciently different for one 

 well up in field practice to tell the sex of the bird by its 

 voice. 



A tall pine tree near water is, of all nesting sites, the 

 favorite; next to that a rocky ledge of some bold, inacces- 

 sible chff; but whatever site may be chosen, that forever 

 remains home, a shelter at all seasons, the dearest spot on 

 earth. An immense accumulation of sticks, sod, weeds, 

 corn stalks, hay, pine tops, moss, and other coarse ma- 

 terials make a flat structure four or flve feet in breadth 

 and sometimes of even greater height after a succession of 



