BIEDS OF NOETHEEN CANADA 357 



flea-bitten appearance. While some eggs are but slightly 

 marked, none are entirely unspotted. To sum it up in a 

 few words, they show a great variety of styles. Compared 

 with the eggs of other Eaptores they perhaps resemble those 

 of Buteo lineatus in colouration more than any other species." 

 There are three skins, and four sets of three and one of two 

 eggs, taken in Ungava, and another set of three found on 

 Artillery Lake, north of Great Slave Lake, by Bishop 

 Lofthouse on June 4th, 1900, in the Ottawa Museum. 



349. Golden Eagle — Aquila chryswtos (Linn.). 



A skin was obtained from an Indian at Fort Eesolution, 

 Great Slave Lake, on 26th May, 1885, and it was later for- 

 warded to Dr. Bell. This eagle is believed to breed in the 

 Fond du Lac section of Great Slave Lake. From various 

 points along the valley of the Anderson Eiver to its outlet 

 in Liverpool Bay, and from near the mouth of the Wilmot 

 Horton Eiver in Franklin Bay, an aggregate of twelve nests 

 of the golden eagle was procured in course of the breeding 

 seasons from 1861 to 1865, inclusive. Ten of them were 

 constructed on the side face, and within twenty or thirty 

 feet of the summit, of steep and difficult of access earth and 

 shaly ravine banks ; and in the other two instances the nests 

 were built near the top of tall spruce pines. One thus exam- 

 ined in 1864 was found to be of considerable size, and it 

 was composed of a large platform of built-up twigs and 

 sticks, having a bed of hay, moss, and feathers in the centre ; 

 and as this and other similarly constructed nests appeared to 

 be annually renovated prior to re-occupation, they must ulti- 

 mately assume vast proportions. Pillaged nests are, how- 

 ever, frequently deserted for a season, but in one instance 

 where the female had been snared upon her nest and the eggs 

 taken, it was found occupied the following summer, probably 

 by the widowed male with another mate. She was shot and 

 proved to be a mature bird. As above stated, in two instances 

 only were the nests built near the top of tall spruce pines — 



