94 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



are generally seen hunting in pairs in tlie early spring, chasing ducks, 

 geese, and sage hens, and mostly successfully. I came within a few 

 feet of one gorging itself on a yellow-footed marmot [Arctomys] it had 

 jast captured." (Proc. Bost. See. ITat. Hist., vol. xix, 1877, p. 137.) 



Dr. E. A. Mearns, TJ. S. Army, in a note on the Golden Eagle, says : 

 " Several years ago a Golden Eagle was shot opposite those cliffs by a 

 farmer at Cold Spring [New York] while in the act of destroying 

 a goose belonging to the farmer." (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, vol. iii, 

 1878, p. 100.) 



Mr. George A. Boardman captured a Golden Eagle under the follow- 

 ing circumstances: " When out snipe shooting October 16 (1880), a big 

 Blue Heron flew up and almost immediately dropped to the ground. 

 Instantly a large bird came like a meteor and struck the Heron with 

 full force, and in their excitement I got a flue specimen of the Golden 

 Eagle." (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, vol. vi, 1881, p. 58.) 



Although this eagle usually attacks quarry which is easy to secure, 

 Mr. Eobert Eidgway shows that it is capable of capturing agile 

 game: "At Camp 19, on the last-named mountains, [East Hum- 

 boldt, Nev.,] on the 29th of July, we were so fortunate as to witness 

 the chase and cai)ture of a Sage-Hen {Gentrocerous urophasianus) 

 by a pair of these Eagles. 'We were standing a few yards in the 

 rear of a tent when our attention was arrested by a rushing noise, and 

 upon looking up the slope of the mountain we saw flying down its 

 wooded side with the rapidity of an arrow a Sage-Heu pursued by two 

 Eagles. The Hen was about 20 yards in advance of her pursuers, ex- 

 erting herself to the utmost to escape; her wings, from their rapid 

 motion, being scarcely visible. The Eagles in hot pursuit (the larger 

 of the two leading), followed every undulation of the fugitive's course, 

 steadily lessening the distance between them and the object of their 

 pursuit; their wings not moving, except when a slight inclination was 

 necessary to enable them to follow a curve in the course of the fugitive. 

 So intent were they in the chase that they passed within 20 yards of 

 us. They had scarcely gone by, however, when the Sage Hen, wearied 

 by her continued exertion, and hoping, probably, to conceal herself 

 among the bushes, dropped to the ground; but no sooner had she 

 touched it than she was immediately snatched up by the foremost of 

 her relentless pursuers, who, not stopping in its flight, bore the prize 

 rapidly toward the ro(;ky summits of the higher peaks, accompanied 

 by its mate." (U. S. Geol. Expl. of the Fortieth Parallel, King, vol. 

 IV, 1877, p. 591.) 



Numerous sensational stories have appeared from time to time 

 relating to the carrying off of children by Eagles, the great majority of 

 which have originated in the fertile brains of their versatile reporters. 

 There is Httle doubt that if a hungry Eagle found a young baby unpro- 

 tected it would carry it off. The statements that babies have been car 

 ried away by Eagles and later recovered from the nest uninjured are as 

 ridiculous as they are untrue. 



