THE OOLOGIST. 



87 



rical large pine tree and the nest was 

 so very large some six feet in depth 

 that I made three fierce attempts to 

 get my hands over the rim far enough 

 to ascertain what was to reward me 

 for such laborious effort getting up to 

 a nest so near the ground. The Bald 

 Eagle as a rule builds in very tall 

 trees and quite near the top as the accom- 

 paning picture will show. The nest 

 was so large, I should say about 7 feet 

 across, that I could not get around 

 and on top of it as I do in most cases, 

 but I was there to find out what was 

 in that nest, I had not come twenty 

 miles for my health alone, and while 

 Minnie was calling "be careful now," 

 as my body was at right angles with 

 the trunk of the tree, I grew desperate, 

 almost made up my mind to burrow 

 through as I have done in some cases, 

 but I was finally astonished and 

 rewarded by putting two beautiful eggs 

 in my pocket and if I had only had a 

 glass of ice water at that time I would 

 almost have been willing to trade the 

 set of eggs for it "say! the're beaut's" 

 "say! Minnie, say we go up to that 

 other nest, but a few hundred yards 

 away," "all right; its a go," off I went 

 and to my astonishment some scoun- 

 dral had nailed cleats on and I have 

 no doubt had taken eggs from that 

 nest, it had every appearance of being 

 in condition such as are found when 

 containing eggs, lined with fine lin- 

 ing of bark and some Spanish moss. 

 Well— so far so good lets start home, 

 no! lets get a guide while here and go 

 out in the woods and shoot a deer or 

 two first and its possible we may find 

 another nest or some rookery of other 

 birds. Very well. All arrangements 

 made off we start by day break next 

 morning after driving twelve miles 

 through a charming paradise for game 

 we pitched our tent at half past three 

 o'clock. "Say we go out a little while" 

 says the guide, very well off we start 

 Within an hour three fine deer jump- 



ed up within twenty feet of the guide 

 and after a cannonading for several 

 minutes it seemed to me, I ran toward 

 him and saw three as fine deer as I 

 ever saw getting through space good 

 and lively — how many did you kill 

 George says I; well to make it short we 

 didn't take any deer to town that 

 night, nor did we find another nest 

 out there but met a hunter who had 

 just shot a fine large Bald Eagle, 

 which I'm always sorry to see during 

 nesting season. Well I was anxious 

 to get back home as I had been out 

 in the Everglades but a few days be- 

 fore and found a fine Eagles nest with 

 the bird on and she would not leave 

 the nest and I concluded she was 

 merely holding her claim and was not 

 ready for business as yet, but when I 

 found the two eggs above mentioned 

 and they were somewhat incubated I 

 said this nest needs my attention so 

 Minnie and I with my colored man to 

 help pole the boat started and when 

 there another surprise met me. No 

 bird appeared about the place and I 

 must say I felt a little discouraged. 

 Never the less as my love for climbing 

 to Eagles nests is so great I concluded 

 to go up. Here in a dense cypress 

 swamp was an immense nest in the 

 top of a slender cypress tree fully 60 

 feet high and not a limb except those 

 that support the nest. Another tree of 

 similiar size was about six feet away 

 which I concluded to climb and 

 when even with the nest I would swing 

 over to the nest and help myself. When 

 nearing the top I heard some chirping 

 and discovered the Eagle circling 

 overhead but not making the usual 

 fuss, but when I finally got to the top 

 I saw the prize two fine ivories that 

 looked fresh. How am I to get them 

 is the question now. The nest is 

 about 8 feet across, I swing over and 

 step one foot on edge of nest and won- 

 der how I am to get those eggs. A 

 thought finally struck me. I took a 



