180 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
The height to which eagles fly has been a matter of speculation, but 
an aeroplane recently collided with one at about 1,200 feet from the 
ground, which adds one fact to the discussion (Condor, 1927, p. 172). 
A remarkable aerial evolution known as the “spring tumbling” 
of the Golden Eagle has been graphically described by Mr. E. S. Came¬ 
ron. From his perch in a pine tree, the eagle, soaring skyward, “suddenly 
closed his wings, and dropped head foremost like a spent rocket, until 
the increasing impetus was checked by spreading them. After his first 
tumble the eagle shot upwards and repeated it, when he returned to the 
tree before resuming his aerial performance” (1908b, p. 252). 
Additional Literature.—Brewster, William, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 
Harvard College, LXVI, 333-340, 1925.— Cameron, E. S., Auk, XXII, 158-167, 
1905; XXV, 251-268, 1908.— Finley, W. L., American Birds, 235-247, 1907.— 
Oberholser, PI. C., Biol. Surv., U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 27, 1906. 
BALD EAGLE: Haliaetus leucocephalus leucocephalus (Linnaeus) 
Plates 9 and 14 
Description. — Male: Length 30-35 inches, wing 20-25.9, extent about 7 
feet, tail 11-15.2, bill 1.8-2.2, tarsus 2.6-3.4. Female: Length 34-43 inches, 
wing 23.5-28, extent about 7-8 feet, tail 12.5-16, bill 1.9-2.3, tarsus 3.2-3.7. Wing 
with six quills cut out on inner webs. Feathering of leg not reaching foot. Adults: 
Head f neck, and tail pure white , body blackish or dark brown; iris usually pale yellow 
or whitish; bill, cere, legs and feet corn yellow. Young: First year wholly black 
except white bases of feathers of under parts which gives spotty appearance; second 
or third year, head and neck blackish, lanceolate feathers of hind neck pale brownish, 
all feathers white beneath surface; rest of upperparts mixed gray, brown, black, 
and usually white; tail blackish, inner webs blotched with whitish; underparts 
mixed black and white; iris brown, bill and cere black or blackish, feet yellow. 
Comparisons. The juvenal Bald Eagle resembles the Golden Eagle so closely 
that they are often confused. The young Bald Eagle never has the “golden” 
hindneck. “The tail lightens toward the base with age, but always gradually, and 
never shows a definite tail bar as does the young Golden Eagle.” The tarsus is 
bare for half its length. In flight the under surface is largely grayish toward the 
body (Taverner). (See Plate 9.) 
Range. Temperate and subtropical North America, chiefly in United States, 
south to southern Lower California, central Mexico and southern Florida, breeding 
in suitable localities throughout most of its range. Recorded from Queen Charlotte 
Islands. 
State Records. East, west, and north, in the three States bordering New 
Mexico, the Bald Eagle is known to nest, and it has been reported to Mr. Ligon as 
nesting on the Frisco and east Gila Rivers. It is fairly common in western Socorro 
[Catron] County, he says. Nesting abundantly in the mountain parks of Colorado 
the Eagles are forced south when the ice shuts them off from a large part of their 
food. It is found throughout eastern Union County, though less commonly than the 
Golden Eagle, and one was seen in full plumage at Clapham, December, 1893 (Seton). 
One was seen in the Guadalupe Mountains at 6,500 feet, January 13, 1915 (Willett), 
and another in Socorro [Catron] County, 15 miles northwest of Reserve, January 
27, 1915. A third had been killed 10 miles northeast, in Apache Canyon, three 
weeks previous (Ligon). A few were reported at about 8,000 feet on the Pecos 
