148 WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. 



iidi'se pasture below Many Glaciers. It was a inchuiistic, blackish, 

 immature bird, with reddish breast, and the characteristic feathered 

 legs. Its presence on a low tree overlooking the field produced a 

 great barking of ground squirrels and chij^ping of birds, although, 

 had the birds but known it, he was not looking for them, for he lives 

 almost exclusively upon small mammals and reptiles, with the addi- 

 tion of crickets. 



Golden Eagle: Aqv'da chrysaetos. — Eagles were seen in a number 

 of places, hunting over the sides of the mountains. From St. Mary 

 Lake one of the dark forms was seen moving along the face of 

 Flat-top Mountain ; near Many Glaciers, on looking across the green 

 water of Lake Josephine and over the dark conifers of the island, up 

 against the red strata of Grinnell Mountain another large dark form 

 was seen; and near Piegan Pass, at Granite Park, and above Lake 

 Ellen Wilson still others of the great birds were seen as landscape 

 features projected against mountains or diving deep into canyons 

 for their prey. 



When we were camping in their country, our guide, Mr. Gird, 

 described some interesting experiences he had had with them : " Once," 

 he said, " I happened to look up and here come an eagle like an arrow. 

 I scrouched — and he didn't go a hundred yards from me when he got 

 his marmot." "An eagle will carry off a Irid as he would a marmot." 

 he added. When we were camped on the head of Mineral Creek, 

 pointing to the cliff opposite, he told of a- battle he had seen there 

 between a pair of eagles and a full grown mountain goat. 



" He was right up there where that stone looks like a goat at the 

 top of that green " — pointing to some timberline dwarfs. " The 

 nannie and the kid had gone ovei' the ridge and he was going when 

 the eagle attacked him. The eagle came and kept swooping down at 

 him till he run into the green. He must have hid in the green — we 

 could see very little white. Then the eagle went away and when the 

 goat came out, he came back with his mate. It was funny to see them 

 work. One would stay up and the other would dive. He would make 

 a little run and when they would come he would rare up and paw at 

 them with his front feet, and then they'd beat it. He was making for 

 that dark ledge " — pointing up. " 'Wlien they was raising, the goat 

 would make a run for the cliff. When he got to the cliff' they couldn't 

 dive at him. They sure did hate to give him up. They sailed round 

 for a long time. It was about this time " — six o'clock — " and he 

 stayed around till nearly dark." Gazing up at the cliffs reminis- 

 cently, he concluded emphatically, "The old sport was scared a 

 little bit!" 



When men are trapping for mountain lions, Mr. Gird said, they 

 sometimes get eagles. " Royal eagles" he called IheuL and said that 

 to the Indians they appaiently represent force. 



