OF VIRGINIA 119 
to capture live food, such as squirrels, rabbits, duck, geese 
and other mammals and birds. It was one of my most 
pleasant experiences while in California, where they breed 
commonly, seeing one of these fine birds capture a ground 
squirrel. Mr. Arthur T. Wayne records in his “Birds of 
South Carolina,” ‘a Golden Eagle having killed as large a 
bird as a Wild Turkey.” With us they make their nests 
on the cliffs; of sticks, and smaller stubble, lined with 
leaves or weeds. The eggs, two (rarely three) in number, 
are white and most handsomely blotched and spotted with 
various shades of brown, with fainter markings of laven- 
der. Size, 2.85x2.48. Fresh eggs April 1st. This is the 
bird that should have been our national emblem. I could 
find no positive evidence of their breeding in Giles County, 
though birds are often seen passing over Bald Knob, going 
southward. I observed three eagles as late as May 19th 
above Mountain Lake, and every indication leads me to 
believe they do nest on our cliffs in the Alleghenian 
Range. 
GENUS HALIZETUS. 
[852]. Halieetus leucocephalus leucocephalus 
(Linneus). Bald Eagle. 
[White-headed Eagle. Sea Eagle]. 
Ranex.—United States to southern Lower California 
and northern Mexico, breeding in suitable localities 
throughout its range; rare and local in California and in 
the arid interior. 
iA common resident the year round and distributed 
over our whole section. One wishing to see these 
