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NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE IN 



CALIFOBNIA.* 



By H. E. Taylor. 



On February 20th, 1889, I received the following telegram, 

 to me perfectly intelligible: — " Come to Sargents to-morrow; 

 the Eagles are early." This was somewhat of a surprise, as I 

 had regarded a set of the Golden Eagle's eggs taken on February 

 29th, 1888, as an early laying. Plainly the last three weeks of 

 pleasant weather had made the nesting season early. It is 

 almost needless to say I packed up hastily, and was off for the 

 Eagle territory the following morning. On arrival I met my 

 friend B. at the station, and started off to visit an Eagle's nest 

 which I had found last year. 



On arriving in sight of the nest, which was in a rather 

 small live oak near a road, we saw the male bird perched on a 

 fence not one hundred yards from the tree. When we came 

 near he flew, passing close to the nest, from which the female 

 followed a few moments later. 



It did not take us long to climb the tree, when we were 

 delighted to find two eggs, handsomely marked. The nest was 

 only thirty feet from the ground, and was not a large one, being 

 three feet in diameter, by eighteen inches in thickness. It was 

 constructed of oak- sticks, poison-oak branches, and sage-brush ; 

 lined with green and dry oak-leaves and grass, with a sprig of the 

 bright red toyon berries. Before reaching my friend's house, 

 several miles distant, we visited an old Eagle's nest, which was in 

 an oak about fifty feet above the ground. It was a very bulky affair, 

 formed of big oak-sticks, mustard-stalks, and pieces of grain- 

 sacks. The lining was of Spanish moss and oak-leaves. When 

 we rode under the tree we saw the great bird's tail projecting 

 over the edge. She perceived us soon and flew off, when we 

 made the ascent and found one egg, brightly marked with brown 

 and lilac. 



My friend returned some days later for the eggs, and, finding 

 the female again on the nest, on climbing up grasped her by the 

 tail, thinking to secure some feathers as well. The bird turned 



* From ■ Zoe,' a monthly biological journal, published at San Francisco, 

 vol. i., No. 2, for April, 1890. 



ZOOLOGIST. — OCTOBER, 1890. 2 F 



