8 
THE CONDOR 
VOL. VIII 
bringing the nest as close as we cared to photograph it, covering the full size of a 
5x7 plate and giving a clear definition of the eggs and the lining of the nest. 
The golden eagles are undoubtedly mated for life. The same aerie was used 
year after year. During the month of February the nest was re-carpeted with 
small twigs and dry leaves, for the eaglets of the preceding summer had worn it 
down to a rough platform of large sticks. A hollow of this soft material was made 
in the middle for the eggs, and a branch of green laurel was added. Later on 
when I removed this branch of evergreen it was replaced by another piece ap- 
parently wrenched from the living tree by the eagle. When this second piece had 
dried, still another branch of green was brought. This badge of green seems to 
be as essential in the eagles’ home as the sacred Lares at the Roman fireside. 
The question is often asked as to whether the old eagles showed fight while 
we were about the nest. The moment you speak of climbing to an eagle’s aerie 
the average person gets an idea of a harrowing picture of the photographer hang- 
AWAKENING INSTINCT; THE EAGLETS 25 DAYS OLD 
Copyrighted 
ing to the edge of a cliff, or the top of a tree, with the old eagles clawing out 
pound chunks at every swoop! Few eagles possess the mad ferocity pictured 
and magnified by sensational story writers. It would be interesting to know of an 
authentic case where the golden eagle showed fight at its nest. When we first 
scrambled over the bowlders of the canyon up toward the nest, I saw the old eagle 
slip quietly from her eggs and skim out over the mountain top. Each time we 
visited the spot the parents disappeared and stayed away as long as we cared to 
hold possession. 
On April 12, eighteen days after we secured the picture of the eggs, we 
made our second trip to the aerie. The mother, instead of leaving her young when 
we were half a mile down the canyon, as she did when the nest contained eggs, 
crouched flat down, while we climbed the mountain side above the tree and looked 
at her through the field-glass. But she slid off and sailed away soon after, when 
