184 Birds of Colorado 
up to about 10,000 feet, but also in the plains as well, while in winter: 
it is chiefly met with on the plains. The following are the chief localities 
noticed: Estes Park, rare (Kellogg), Breckenridge, breeding to 10,000 
feet (Carter), Manitou, September (Beckham), near Fort Lyon, breeding 
(Thorne apud Cooke), near Coventry in winter (Warren). It is 
not represented in the Aiken collection, but there is a mounted 
specimen in the State Historical collection at Denver, taken by 
L. Morse, at Orchard, in Morgan, co., on December 24th, 1904, and a 
fine pair in immature dress, killed near Denver by T. Dines and 
R. Borcherdt, are mounted in the Colorado Museum of Natural 
History. 
Habits—The Bald or White-headed Eagle is the 
National Bird of the United States, to which dignity 
it was elevated June 20th, 1782. In its young dress 
it is sometimes called the Bird of Washington. It is 
essentially a fish-eater, and is therefore more at home 
on the sea-coast and along the banks of the larger rivers 
than in a dry country like Colorado. It also preys on 
water-fowl and mammals, and has been known to carry 
off in its talons a lamb of the same weight as itself, a 
distance of five miles. Its voice is a loud, harsh scream, 
and its flight is powerful. 
Little has been noticed about its nesting habits in 
Colorado. Captain Thorne found a nest near Fort 
Lyon, June 12th, containing two young birds, while 
Carter found it breeding near Breckenridge. As a rule 
it builds in trees, though sometimes on ledges in cafion 
walls. The nest is added to year after year and is a 
massive structure of sticks, like that of the Golden 
Eagle. The eggs, usually two in number, are white, 
though often nest-stained ; they are ovate in shape and 
average 2°8 x 2°1. 
Genus FALCO. 
Bill rather strong, with a prominent, tooth-like projection on the 
cutting-edge of the upper mandible; nostrils circular, with a central 
bony tubercle ; wing long and pointed, the ninth and eighth primaries 
