Sept., 1916 
NOTES ON THE GOLDEN EAGLE IN ARIZONA 
201 
Mr. Wm. Lutley had a somewhat similar experience. The eagle rose from 
the carcass it was feeding upon, flapping laboriously to get under way. Mr. 
Lutley galloped his horse up close to it and shot at.it with his six-shooter, a 
.45 Colt, when it plunged to the ground and turned on its back to defend 
itself. He captured it with difficulty, and tied it on behind his saddle. Glanc- 
ing around later, as he rode toward home, he found the skirt of the saddle 
was swarming with lice. He immediately dispatched the bird and threw it 
onto the ground. He cut off the wings, head and feet, and also examined the 
body to see where he had hit it when he shot. To his surprise he could find 
no sign of a wound. He believes it was frightened by being overtaken by his 
horse and the noise of his shot, and purposely dropped to the ground to get 
into its customary position of defence. On this occasion, also, there was no 
wind to assist the bird in taking flight. 
Recently two cowboys in the employ of Mr. Lutley came upon three 
eagles feeding upon the body of a calf about seven months old. The birds 
were very sluggish and allowed the cowboys to approach close enough to kill 
one with a six-shooter. The other two flew away and at last report had not 
been seen again in that vicinity which was twelve miles or more from the near- 
est available nesting site. This carcass, too, had begun to decay. Traps were 
set, but were not sprung at any time. Coyotes had made tracks all around, 
but the sight and smell of the traps kept these wary animals away. The back 
of this calf gave every evidence that it had been killed by the eagles. Evi- 
dently Golden Eagles do some damage to live stock. Also the above incidents 
show that the Golden Eagle will, on occasion, eat carrion. 
It isn’t out of the way to mention here that a Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus 
leucocephalus ) was seen on numerous occasions perched upon or flying among 
the topmost pinnacles of the Chiricahua Mountains during the open season for 
deer last fall. It was very shy and would not permit any close approach. It 
was supposed to have fed upon wounded deer, or offal from such as were 
killed by hunters. 
Tombstone, Arizona, April 5, 1916. 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Black-headed Grosbeaks Eating Butter. — At Idyllwild, in the San Jacinto Mountains, 
August 2, 1907, I was told by Mrs. Atwood of Riverside that the Grosbeaks came to her 
tent for butter, hunting for it so persistently that she put it in a covered hanging box, 
after which they flew against the box again and again. She said that the birds also ate 
bacon drippings when these were to be had. — Florence Merriam Baxley, Washington , 
D. C. 
A Nestfull. — On April 17, 1916, I found a nest of the Spurred Towhee ( Pipilo m. 
megalonyx) in a dense blackberry thicket in the Los Angeles River bottom. It was 
placed in a depression in the ground at the base of the berry bush, made of leaves and 
grass as is usual, and measured about 2% inches across on the inside. The contents 
were nine fresh eggs, quite a nest full, so full in fact that some of the eggs protruded 
above the edge of the sheltering structure, so that the mother towhee could sit on the 
nest but not in it. Four of the eggs were laid by the towhee, and five of them, rather 
the larger half, by a Valley Quail ( Lophortyx c. vallicola)\ When discovered, the tow- 
hee was assiduously trying to hatch out this large and unevenly divided family. I have 
not found such an occurrence cited in any books of bird lore. When I discovered the 
