182 Birds of Colorado 
12,000 feet. It is also found in the mountains in the winter up to about 
11,000 feet, and sometimes wanders out on to the plains during this 
season. Warren informs me that he has seen it near Orchard, where 
it was said to breed, and also on Irwins Ranch in Las Animas co., where 
he noticed an old eyrie. Breeding records are: Specimen Mount 
above Estes Park (Kellogg), Boulder co. (Gale), Wet Mountains, up to 
11,000 feet (Lowe), near Grand Junction (Rockwell), La Plata co. 
(Morrison). It is not at all uncommon near Colorado Springs in winter, 
and there are several old eyries still close by, though now deserted. 
Habits.—Essentially a bird of the mountains, the 
Golden Eagle is perhaps more abundant in Colorado 
than in any other state in the Union. It quickly dis- 
appears before civilization, however, and has _ been 
destroyed in many parts of the country by poison. It is 
somewhat wary and shy, and is usually met with in pairs, 
which are believed to mate for life. It has a harsh and 
rather shrill scream, and is fierce and untamable though 
easily kept in captivity. 
The Golden Eagle preys chiefly on hares, ground- 
squirrels and the various grouse. In Colorado it is said 
to kill a great many lambs of the mountain sheep, and 
to descend to the plains in winter to pursue the young 
antelope. It occasionally carries off a lamb or a 
young calf, while it will freely eat carrion if pressed 
by hunger. 
In California the Golden Eagle generally builds its 
nest in trees, but in Colorado it always fixes its eyrie 
in a crevice or on a ledge in a vertical cliff. The nest 
is built up of sticks and added to year after year, so that 
it often becomes very bulky; Gale measured one six 
feet in diameter and nine feet high ; the lining is scanty, 
of a few smaller twigs or tufts of grass, but a fresh spray 
of evergreen, either spruce or balsam-fir, is almost 
invariably found in the nest. The eggs, two or three 
in number, are ovate and dirty white in ground-colour. 
The markings vary greatly : sometimes they are wholly 
