Jan., 1906 | 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE 
9 
we started to climb the tree. The eggs had hatched, but the eaglets were small 
and weak, only about nine days old. 
Exactly sixteen days after our second visit to the eagle’s nest, we were in the 
big sycamore again. By that time, April 28, the eaglets had grown from the size 
of an egg to the size of an ordinary chicken, but they had not begun to change 
from the color of snowy white. The fledglings resented our company when we 
climbed into the nest and planted the camera right beside them. At that time 
they were not strong enough to offer effective resistance; they could not help 
being imposed upon. They endured silently, laying up wrath for the days of 
strength when they could strike a blow that would bring the blood. 
The growth of the eaglets was very slow. Fifteen days after our last visit, oil 
May 13 we found that the stiff, black feathers were beginning to push their 
way through the thick coat of white down, and the young eagles took on a mot- 
tled appearance. 
\\ e concluded that the golden eagle is a valuable inhabitant of any cattle 
A SAVAGE GREETING; 40 DAYS OLD 
Copyrighted by Finley and Bohlman 
range or farming community. His food consists almost entirely of the ground 
squirrels that are so abundant thru the California hills. On our second trip, 
when we looked into the nest, we found the remains of the bodies of four squirrels 
lying on its rim. At each visit we examined the food remains and the pellets 
about the nest, and we are sure that a very large proportion of the eagles’ food- 
supply consisted of squirrels. The hills in many places were perforated with their 
burrows and the eagles seemed to have regular watch-towers on the high rocks 
about, from which they swooped down on their quarry. If it were not for the 
birds of prey about these hilly districts, some of the places would surely be over- 
run with harmful rodents. 
I am satisfied that this family of eagles regularly consumed an average of six 
ground squirrels a day during the period of nesting, and, very likely, more than 
that. Those young, growing eagles required a fair amount of nourishment each 
day for about three months, and they were well supplied, to say nothing of what 
