GOLDEN EAGLE. 95 



Birds of prey always strike their talons deeply into their quarry 

 before carrying it off, unless they are interrupted at the moment they 

 strike. It is possible that some of the stories found in the older books, 

 especially those relating to Europe, may be true, but we know of no 

 authentic instance within the past fifty years of Eagles attacking 

 children. Occasionally when this bird is interrupted while feeding it 

 will attack even a man, as the following from Mr. E.W. Nelson shows: 

 " On one occasion a pair was disturbed by a friend of mine while they 

 were feeding upon the remains of a hog in northern Illinois. As my 

 friend approached the birds arose and swooped fiercely at him. Both 

 birds were shot almost at the muzzle of the gun; the first fell dead 

 almost at his feet, but this apparently seemed only to increase the rage 

 of the survivor, which renewed the attack until it, too, was disabled." 

 (Nat. Hist. Coll., Alaska, 1887, p. 144.) 



At certain seasons of the year or in sections where its natural food, 

 wild game, is scarce this bird often becomes very troublesome by at- 

 tacking the young of domesticated animals. Mr. Oliver Davie speaks 

 of one of these Eagles which was killed near Columbus, Ohio, Decem- 

 ber 13, 1881. It was alleged that it had killed several young calves, 

 and he ascertained that the bird had been observed feeding upon two 

 of them, but it was not seen in the act of killing them. (Bull. Nutt. 

 Ornith. Club, vol. vii, 1882, p. 123.) 



The following letter to Col. Alexander Macbeth, of Georgetown, S. 

 C, shows how destructive Eagles may occasionally become, but may 

 refer in pavt to the Bald Eagle : 



EiiEMS, Georgetown County, S. C, 



May 30, 18S9. 

 Dear Sir : Yours, 22d instant, at hand, and in reply will say that the eagles are 

 more destructive to the sheep-growing industry in this section than dogs. On one 

 ranch this spring one shepherd alone killed over forty himself, principally by using 

 strychnine. They were worse than we ever knew of before. We lost fully 400 or 

 500 lambs, as they devour them as fast as they drop from the old sheep. » * « 

 We frequently see during eagle or lambing season, fifteen to twenty eagles in a 

 covey (or bunch), which shows at a glance that they are destructive. We have also a 

 few wildcats that devour the young sheep, but can manage them better than eagles. 

 Yours very truly. 



T. Khem and Sons. 

 Mr. Alex. Macbeth, 



Georgetown, S. C. 



Mr. Henry Seebohm says of its food in Europe: "The Golden 

 Eagle has been known on one highland sheep farm alone in the 

 course of a single season, to carry off as many as thirty-five lambs. 

 * * * In deer forests, eagles are of the greatest service- for 

 although they sometimes take a sickly deer calf, they live almost 

 entirely on the blue hares, so troublesome to the deer stalker- and 

 most certainly the deer are the better for the removal of the weak 

 and sickly ones, which would only possibly live to transmit their dis- 



