EAGLES 139 



describe meeting one in Bear Swamp on December 18, 19134 

 J. E. Isbell has in his possession a mounted specimen in im- 

 mature plumage killed in the vicinity of Tuscumbia, in No- 

 vember, 1910. He reports another one killed about the same 

 time at Russellville. Mrs. B. R. Samuel also has an immatura 

 specimen taken near Guntersville. At Florence, May 7, 1912, 

 I observed an adult bird flying downstream close to the top 

 of the river bluffs. The species is reported to nest near 

 Muscle Shoals, a short distance above Florence. In October, 

 1908, I saw 3 or 4 bald eagles about Little Lagoon, Baldwin 

 County; and in September, 1912, Gutsell saw an adult pair 

 soaring over Perdido Bay. The birds are reported to breed 

 in that vicinity. At Chuckvee Bay, February 7, and again 

 March 16, 1912, I saw a pair of old birds circling high over 

 the Bay. Two were seen on Petit Bois Island, November 24, 

 1915, and one in Duckers Bay, December 3, 1915. 



Immature birds of this species have the feathers of the 

 head brown, like the rest of the body feathers. For this 

 reason they are frequently mistaken for golden eagles. The 

 latter bird, however, may always be distinguished by its legs, 

 which are feathered down to the toes; in the bald eagle the 

 lower third of the leg is naked. 



General habits. — The bald eagle is found chiefly near large 

 bodies of water and is most common along the sea coast. It 

 is at all times suspicious of man and avoids thickly settled 

 regions. Its favorite perch is the top of a tall dead tree 

 overlooking a river, pond, or bay, from which vantage point 

 it watches for an opportunity to plunder the osprey of its 

 catch, or to launch out after a passing duck, or to dive for a 

 fish which it has perceived beneath the surface. 



Although ordinarily of rather sluggish flight, the eagle 

 when hunting its prey is capable of remarkable speed and 

 agility, seemingly having no difficulty in overtaking and cap;? 

 turing the swiftest-flying waterfowl. It picks up also many 

 wounded ducks and subsists to a considerable extent on dead 

 fish or other carrion found on the shores of rivers or bays. 



{The Auk, vol. 31, p. 221, 1914. 



