The Southern Bald Eagle 



on cliff or tree. The eagle eye is proverbial, little 

 happening along the beach for a mile either way 

 of which the bird does not take account. 



There can be little doubt, either, that His 

 Majesty helps himself freely to sea-birds. In 

 seeing an Eagle soaring aloft in leisurely cir- 

 cles, an observer might not suspect the light- 

 ning speed of which it is capable. The bird's 

 very size serves to disguise its speed, as in 

 the case of an ocean liner. Probably there 

 is no sea-fowl which can escape the Halisee- 

 tine desire, save by diving, and not always 

 then, for the Eagle has perfected a ruthless 

 follow-up system, and strikes as often as 

 the diver appears at the surface for 

 breath, until his end is gained. 



The gulls stand in mortal 

 awe of the Bald Eagle, and I have 

 heard a breeding colony of them 

 utter a multitudinous wail of 

 apprehension, which made the 

 heart of the human listener stand 

 still. Protest is idle, however. 

 As well might the apples on the 

 bough protest the hand of the 

 picker. 



Not impossibly the gentle 

 Eagle is forsaking this ancient 

 sport for the more profitable task 

 of sheep-raising. At least in 

 lambing time his services as 

 accoucheur are said to be in con- 

 stant requisition. I don't know. 

 I never witnessed anything overt myself; but the presence of two carcasses 

 of lambs a long while dead in the substructure of an eagle's nest on Santa 

 Cruz Island, looked, to say the least, "mighty suspicious." On the other 

 hand, Mr. Howland, for fifteen years a resident on San Clemente, told 

 Mr. Howell that he had never seen an Eagle carrying a lamb but once, 

 and that one had died a natural death; and he felt quite sure that the 

 birds did not molest his sheep at all. 



Nidification begins early, but not nearly so early as in Florida and 

 along the Gulf Coast, where eggs are said to be laid in December, or even 



Taken on Santa Cruz Island Photo by the Author 



A STARTLED EAGLE 

 A CONSIDERABLE SPACE COVERED BY AN INVOLUNTARY REACTION OF FRIGHT 



HIS 



