XXI 

 THE EAGLE OF MISSION RIDGE 



MANY years ago a pair of Golden Eagles (Aquila 

 chrysaetus) came to live on the southern rim of 

 Mission Ridge. The good people of the lower slopes 

 said the birds were there before they came. The nest 

 was first found by an egg collector in the early nine- 

 ties, and for several years the big birds were robbed. 

 Then the eagles would have no more of this and left their 

 aerie. But each year they were seen about their old hunt- 

 ing-ground. The new aerie was still somewhere about the 

 ridge, and this was the object of our quest. We wanted 

 to study and photograph this royal pair of birds. 



It was the morning of the twenty-fifth of March when 

 we boarded the south bound train at Oakland and landed 

 in a fertile, hilly district. With our cameras strapped 

 to our backs we wheeled rapidly over the first few miles 

 of road, but had to pile our bicycles in the brush about 

 sun-up. 



The spring rains had not yet ceased. The grass- 

 covered fields were soft and springy under foot. A rich, 

 earthy odor breathed gently up, and the nostrils failed not 

 to take eager note of it. The air seemed to vibrate at 

 every sound or motion. A band of red-wings held a song 

 service just down the hill where the lush grasses grew. 

 Meadow larks piped and whistled, blue jays squawked, 



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