The Golden Eagle 



and, roughly handling the young one, she allowed him to drop, I should 

 say, about ninety feet, then she would swoop down under him, wings 

 spread, and he would alight on her back. She would soar to the top of the 

 range with him and repeat the process. One time she waited perhaps 

 fifteen minutes between flights. I should say the farthest she let him fall 

 was 150 feet. My father and I watched this, spellbound, for over an hour." 

 The case of the Golden Eagle is all the more pathetic because of the 

 bird's attachment to its chosen haunts. Instead of running away from 

 persecution, it can only stand its ground, within a range of half a dozen 



Taken in San Luis Obispo County 



Photo by the Author 



A HILLSIDE NEST 



miles or so, until it is shot down. For this reason, also, it is possible to 

 obtain an unusually accurate acquaintance with a given pair of birds, and 

 to follow their fortunes through many seasons. It is known, therefore, 

 that when a bird is robbed of her eggs she does not usually attempt to nest 

 again the same season. Birds that have been persecuted change nesting 

 sites from year to year within their range, but they are apt to come back 



1709 



