176 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



enormous nests. I know of one nest that must 

 contain two waggon-loads of material. It is over 

 seven feet high, and quite six feet wide on its upper 

 surface. In most cases the cliff above overhangs the 

 site. At the end of February or the beginning of 

 March, the needful repairs to the nest are attended 

 to, and the universal branch of evergreen is laid upon 

 the nest, seemingly for any purpose save that of 

 utility. This feature has been present in all the nests 

 I have examined myself, or have had examined by 

 others; it would seem to be employed as a badge of 

 occupancy."! This curious feature is also found in the 

 nests of the Bald or American Eagle. Thus Dr. W. L. 

 Ralph furnished Bendire with the following obser- 

 vations made in Florida on the dwellings of this, the 

 national bird of the United States : — " The nests are 

 immense structures, from five to six feet in diameter, 

 and about the same in depth, and so strong that a man 

 can walk around in one without danger of breaking 

 through ; in fact, my assistant would always get in 

 the nest before letting the eggs down to me. They 

 are composed of sticks, some of which are two or 

 three inches thick, and are lined with marsh grass 

 or some similar material. There is usually a slight 

 depression in the centre, where the eggs are placed, 

 but the edge of the nest extends so far bejond this 

 that it is almost impossible to see the bird from 

 below, unless it has its head well up. I have fre- 

 quently found foreign substances in their nests, 

 usually placed on the edges of it, the object of which 

 I cannot account for. Often it would be a ball of 

 grass, wet or dry, sometimes a green branch from a 

 pine tree, and again a piece of wood, bark, or other 



1 Life Histories of North American Birds, 1892, p. 265. 



