138 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



The nest is placed in the fork of a tree usually 25 to 50 feet 

 above the ground, though sometimes lower; old nests of the 

 crow or of a squirrel are sometimes utilized. 



Food habits. — This is one of the wholly beneficial hawks. 

 It never attacks poultry and rarely takes small birds. Its 

 food consists principally of insects, small mammals, reptiles, 

 and batrachians. 



GOLDEN EAGLE: Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The golden eagle is at present a rare bird 

 in the eastern United States, but is known to breed infrequent- 

 ly in the wilder parts of New England and in the AUeghenies 

 south to North Carolina. Occasional wanderers, therefore, 

 may be looked for in Alabama, but on account of similarity in 

 appearance the immature bald eagle is often mistaken for the 

 golden eagle, and only such records as have been carefully 

 substantiated can be accepted as correct. 



There are three recent records of this bird's occurrence in 

 the State, two in the northern and the other in the southern 

 part. Dr. G. Clyde Fisher has recorded the first, a specimen 

 poisoned by a sheep owner at Florala, January 17, 1908, where 

 the bird, with another, was reported to have killed some sheep 

 and lambs.* The second record, a specimen killed near Flor- 

 encein March, 1911, is from Delos H. Bacon, who examined 

 the bird and vouches for the correctness of the identification. 

 The third record is furnished bjr Mrs. Bessie R. Samuel of 

 Guntersville, who examined and identified a specimen killed 

 near Preston in November 1921. 



BALD EAGLE : Haliaeetus leucocephaliis leucocephalus 



(Linnaeus) . 



State records. — The bald or white-headed eagle is a fairly 

 common resident on the Gulf coast of Baldwin county and 

 occurs locally also in the interior, chiefly along the Tennessee 

 River. Dr. Avery records one individual, the only one ever 

 noted by him, at Greensboro, in 1882.t Golsan and Holt 

 record it as rare and irregular in Autauga County and 



♦Wilson Bull., vol. 20, No. 1, p. BB, 1908. 

 tAvery, W. C, Amer. Field, vol. 34, p. 607, 1890. 



