AICTOITJCZiZl^? : Tiiis is tlio daj- wc celebrate! T-iis is also the day ovjc 

 'wilds."nan tolls us about his visits with Uncle Sam's ITaturalists. Gottin^ 

 out in the wilds nay have soraothing to do with Indepcndonco. But it is not 

 very clear t'nat it has anything to do with fire works and Fourth of July 

 oro.tory. riowovcr, our 17ildsman says ho has a real Fovirth-of-July taBc for 

 us All right, Mr, V'ildsnan, let the eagle scream 



Uhy not let the eagle scream? 



He is our national bird, isn't he? The fathers of our country 

 elevated oxir .Ai::ierican bald eagle to that position on Juno 20, 1782. 



It didnH take much of a boost either. As an elevator, old Baldy 

 has a wonderful lift* His preeminence among birds v/as unquestioned even 

 before the forefathers took action. 



Some folks seem to think that the only eagles left are those that 

 fly across our nuarters and other sniall coins and roost on our gold pieces. 

 But there are still some of them in the wild ri^t around our National 

 Capital* Dr. H, C» Oberholser says he was dovm the Potomac Hiver belov/ 

 T7ashington the other day and saw four or five bald eaj-les. He says he can't 

 see that there has been Br.y big decrease in them in most places, Hhere are 

 still thousands of them in all along our coasts. And. Dr. Oberholser 1-cnows 

 his eagles. He is one of the loading bird investigators of the Bureau of 

 Biological Survey. 



American bald eagles are found pretty generally all over North Ar.ierica. 

 As a rule, however^ thoj'' are most conr^ion near the coast. That is, v/ithin 

 about a hundred miles of the coast and Up the big rivers and near the Great 

 Lakes. Tliere are some American ea-les Also in the Mississippi Valley. Many 

 of them still live along our Atlantic Coast. There are more yet on the 

 Pacific side* They are most plentiful in Alaslza and Florida. Climate 

 doesn't make much difference to a bald eagle, but he does like fish. Old 

 Baldy wouldn't care if ever;^'' day were Friday, 



That fondness for fish, Dr, Oberholser tells me has caused these 

 national birds to be very unpopular with salmon canners in Alaska, The eagles 

 sometimes beat the fishermen to the fish. Most of the salmon they eat, how- 

 ever, arc those that die upstream after spawning. Yes, our proud old bird of 

 prey is sometimes quite a scavenger. 



In fact, ever since Benjamin Franlclin first tried to have the wild 

 turkey made our national bird instead of the eagle, thore h^ve been a lot 



