Nesting Habits of the Bald Eagle. 
BY WALTER HOXXE, FROGMORE, S. C. 
I recently examined a file o£ The Ornithol 
OGXST AND 05LOGIST, and found that the in- 
formation therein contained upon the nesting 
habhs of the American or Bald Eagle (» 
etus leucocephalus)., was more meagre than upon 
any of the rest of our Baptores. I cannot tel 
why this should be so, for it is not a hud that 
is easily overlooked, and it is moreover of wide 
dl This U locaiity seems to be specially favored as 
a breeding resort, and the following remarks 
Le Intended to in some measure fill the Hiatus 
above indicated. 
Although atone time I knew of thirteen nests, 
I have never yet taken one egg- 
To confess the 
truth at the outset, I am a very poor climber. 
The nests are in the highest pines, and conld no 
doubt be reached without serious difficulty by 
one who was accustomed to the use of irons. 
I have participated in two futile attempts 
with other parties to obtain the eggs. One 
venturous lad ascended a rope to within a few 
feet of the nest. The female bird then launched 
herself from it, and the male at the same mo- 
ment darted down from high in the air towards 
her. My acrobatic friend, fearing an imme- 
diate attack, slid precipitately back to terra 
jirma , and no cajoling or ridicule would induce 
him to make another ascent. In fact, a long 
rent in the widest part of his nether raiment, he 
insisted had been made by the talons of the 
wrathful birds. The second attempt at which 
I assisted was even further from success than 
the first. 
The nest is usually placed in a crotch at some 
distance from the top of a living tree. I have 
never seen one perched upon a dead stub in the 
favorite position of the Fish Hawk. Ihe ma- 
terial is principally sticks with but little grass 
and trash, and no perceptible lining. The hol- 
low is not so deep as in the Fish Hawk’s nest, 
and the general appearance is wider and 
rougher. (These remarks are based upon two 
nests which were in felled trees. One contained 
two young birds— both uninjured— and the 
other was empty). 
The hunters and old residents in the vicinity 
state that the two eggs are laid at wide inter- 
vals of time, and thus the callow young that is 
I ./first hatched aids in the incubation of his little 
/ brother. Be that as it may, my own observa- 
tions with the spy-glass show very little differ- 
ence in the development of the nearly fledged 
young, after they begin to stand up and move 
about in the nest. 
Another oft repeated tradition is anent a mar- 
vellous stone said to be contained in every nest, 
and which the great birds guard with jealous 
care. One of these is now in my possession— 
that is, if there is any truth in the story— for I 
dislodged it from a nest into which I fired a 
charge of buck shot. It is a water worn pebble 
of white quartz, oval in shape, and about two 
and a quarter inches in its largest dimensions. 
Such a stone as is common on many pebbly 
beaches, but it is the only one I ever saw among 
these sandy, rockless islands. 
Another point that has often struck me is 
that frequently an immature male is seen mated 
with a full plumaged female. Possibly the 
males are slower in gaining the white head and 
tail, or they may be less wary and oftener fall 
New Eng . Rap bores. N umber Eggs in 
a set. F.H. Carpenter. 
Bald Eagle, ( IlalMus leucocephalus). 
18 sets of 3 
J 
O.&O. XII. Oct. 1887 p.167 
tr 
o 
CO 
CO 
so 
Bald Eagle’s Egg. — Mr. Snowdon How- 
land, Newport, R. I., reports receiving 
from his collector in Florida a single egg 
of the Bald Eagle. It was taken from one 
of those immense Yellow Pines common 
in the South. The nest was sixty feet up 
with few limbs to assist the climber. The 
nest was four feet by three feet and con- 
tained but one egg, which the collector 
took not caring to repeat the climb. 
