6 9 4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 3, igo6. 
with a whitish, then a grayish, down, which in 
time gives place to the firmer dark brown 
feathers of the first complete plumage. They re¬ 
main a long time in the nest, probably at leasi 
three months, during which period they are 
lavishly supplied with food by their parents. 
The old birds commonly make but little de¬ 
monstration when the nest is approached or 
even closely examined, though in a few in¬ 
stances they have been known viciously to attack 
the intruder. Only one brood is reared, and if 
eggs or young be destroyed no further attempt 
to rear young is made the same season. Often 
the old birds, particularly in the South, frequenr 
the nest during much of the year, using it as a 
kind of general rendezvous. 
Food Habits. 
The bald eagle lives partly after the manner 
of vultures, gorging itself to repletion when op¬ 
portunity offers, then perhaps obliged to fast for 
days. 
Fish seems to be the principal food of the bald 
eagle, and when obtainable is often preferred to 
anything else. The dead fish found along the 
shores of sea or lake or river, those that the 
eagle catches by its own efforts, and those of 
/which it robs the osprey are alike acceptable. 
In many places it obtains a good share of its 
food from the dead fish cast up by the waves. 
But the bald eagle not frequently goes fishing 
for itself, using a variety of methods, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances. Sometimes from its 
perch on the summit of a dead tree it launches 
downward and. falling like a stone, seizes its 
prey; sometimes it hunts on the wing, much like 
an osprey, and when a fish is perceived poises 
by rapid wingbeats, finally dropping into the 
water even from a great height, and not infre¬ 
quently becoming almost completely submerged; 
then, again, it varies this last method by flying 
leisurely along near the surface of the water. 
Audubon mentions that along Perkiomen creek 
near Philadelphia, Pa., he saw it on several oc¬ 
casions wading in the shallows and striking at 
the small fish with its bill; and other observers 
elsewhere have noted a similar habit. It has 
been seen scrambling over the ice of a pond, 
trying to reach the fish below; and Mr. W. L. 
Dawson, in his “Birds of Ohio," says that at the 
Licking Reservoir, Ohio, it is reported in winter 
to watch near the air holes in the ice for the 
fish that front time to time seek the surface. 
Mr. J. G. Cooper has seen it catch a flying fish 
in the air, and the amazing celerity necessary 
for the performance of such an exploit may 
readily be imagined. 
Although the bald eagle does often fish for 
itself, it finds a much easier and more con¬ 
genial task in robbing the mild-mannered osprey 
of his finny prey. These attacks are of such 
common occurrence in some localities that they 
are taken by the osprey usually as a matter 
of course; but sometimes patience becomes ex¬ 
hausted and a number of ospreys successfully 
unite to drive away the eagle. 
It is a regrettable fact that, after fish, birds 
constitute the most important part of the bald 
eagle’s diet and sometimes furnish almost the 
entire food. The larger species, particularly of 
waterfowl and game birds, are preferred, song 
birds appear rarely if ever to be molested. 
Dead birds, principally waterfowl, whenever 
available are greedily devoured. 
In most parts of its range it feeds more 
largely on waterfowl than on any other kind of 
birds. In the pursuit of this game the bald 
eagle employs great strength and skill, to which 
it frequently adds no small amount of strategy. 
Geese, brant, and swans, owing apparently to 
their large size, are favorite food. 
Ducks of various kinds, by reason of abund¬ 
ance, fall regularly a prey to the bald eagle, 
and they are stolen from unwary sportsmen 
just as readily as larger birds. Mr. C. J. May¬ 
nard mentions seeing an eagle swoop down and 
bear away a bufflehead just shot and lying on 
the water only a few yards distant. Wounded 
ducks, with those purloined from hunters, form 
ar some seasons a good share of its food. It 
has been seen to drop suddenly and unex¬ 
pectedly to the water and catch a black duck 
before there was any chance of escape, but 
usually the duck sees the eagle at it comes, and 
then the process of capture is more protracted. 
The eagle rushes at its intended victim, which 
on its approach dives and swims under water 
until compelled to return to the surface for air, 
when the eagle again swoops down; and this 
procedure is repeated until the duck becomes 
exhausted, is seized, and carried away. Dr. S. 
D. Judd has seen a wounded scaup duck tired 
out in this way, and saved only by a shot at 
the eagle. According to observers, such a chase 
is seldom voluntarily given up until successful. 
Sometimes two together pursue the duck, mak¬ 
ing alternate attacks, whereby the hunt is 
shortened. It is, howe'ver, quite capable of 
catching ducks on the wing, apparently experi¬ 
encing little difficulty on account of their swift 
flight. 
This eagle is fond also of coots, and Dr. 
William L. Ralph, quoted by Maj. Charles E. 
Bendire, says that during winter in the vicinity 
of Merritt Island. Indian river. Florida, it feeds 
largely on the coots which then abound there, 
hunting them usually on the wing. Still other 
water birds are not infrequently captured for 
food, and of these the various kinds of gulls prob¬ 
ably most often. Mr. Everett Smith, writing in 
Forest and Stream, describes an unsuccessful 
attack upon a loon in Maine, ostensibly for the 
fish it had apparently just caught, but possibly 
with a more sinister purpose; and M. W. W. 
Worthington gives an instance of the capture 
of a Florida cormorant at Darien, Ga. 
The bald eagle preys to only a limited extent 
on the native gallinaceous birds, and then proba¬ 
bly for the most part when other means of sus¬ 
tenance are scarce. In Alaska it lives some¬ 
what on ptarmigan, particularly in winter, when 
ducks and geese are gone and fish compara¬ 
tively hard to obtain. Mr. G. Eifrig records 
finding a young eagle fighting a wild turkey on 
Knobley Mountain near Cumberland, Maryland. 
Audubon says that the bald eagle used to fre¬ 
quent the roosts and breeding places of the 
passenger pigeon for the purpose of picking up 
the young birds that happened to fall from the 
nests or any old ones that chanced to be 
wounded, but that it seldom followed the mi¬ 
grating flocks of pigeons. 
Domestic fowls, princinally chickens and 
ducks, are sometimes killed, to which fact sev¬ 
eral writers testify. Yet this eagle does not 
seem to be a confirmed chicken stealer, and 
levies on poultry only when most accessible or 
when other supplies fail. 
Mammals. 
Mammals of many kinds constitute a consider¬ 
able share of the food, but the large quadrupeds 
are not often attacked. The four-footed animal, 
unless a large one, when struck by the eagle 
has little chance for escape, since one talon 
usually pins-the two'forelegs and head together, 
while the other pinions the hindfeet, and the 
beak soon breaks the spine of the victim. If 
the animal be too large to be carried away, the 
eyes are the first point of attack. 
At favorable opportunities this eagle preys 
upon fawns, and pressed by hunger will some 
times attack a full-grown deer, particularly if the 
latter be wounded. Even the wily fox some¬ 
times meets its fate at the talons of this power¬ 
ful bird. Opossums and raccoons are sometimes 
captured. Mr. Thomas Mcllwraith mentions 
that an eagle shot on Hamilton bay. Ontario, 
had the bleached skull of a weasel hanging 
firmly fastened by the teeth into the skin of its 
throat, a grewsome relic of a former desperate 
struggle. 
Rodents of various kinds form an element of 
some importance in the diet of the bald eagle. 
Where squirrels are plentiful they are freely 
eaten. In California, according to Dr. J. G. 
Cooper, large numbers of the destructive ground 
squirrels, or spermophiles were formerly killed 
on some of the ranches, the birds receiving 
protection in consequence; and instances were 
reported to him of young eagles reared from the 
nest and kept in a semi-domestic state which 
went out daily to kill squirrels — a hint, perhaps, 
for California wheat raisers. Prairie dogs are 
eaten occasionally, but not so co.mmonly as 
doubtless they would be were this eagle more 
numerous in the regions where these destructive 
rodents most abound. Rabbits are frequently 
taken for food; rats and even mice occasionally. 
Unfortunately the bald eagle’s fondness for 
mammal flesh leads it to attack domestic ani¬ 
mals. This happens rarely to the larger kinds, 
though a sickly or weakling calf may once in a 
while be killed; but sheep and hogs in some 
places suffer considerably. Full-grown healthy 
sheep are seldom killed, the attacks being con¬ 
fined principally to sick or weakly animals and 
to lambs. 
Many writers note the destruction of swine 
by the bald eagle, but these reports almost all 
refer to young animals. In places, particularly 
the southeastern United States, where this eagle 
is common and where large numbers of pigs 
are raised and allowed to run more or less wild, 
there is from this source a loss that at times 
is by no means insignificant, the bird occasion¬ 
ally venturing boldly even close to human 
dwellings in pursuit of its prey. 
Mr. Vernon Bailey reports that on one oc¬ 
casion the little dog of a ranchman in the Davis 
Mountains, Texas, was picked up by a bald 
eagle, but finally dropped. Dogs are, however, 
Sometimes eaten. 
The bald eagle does not disdain carrion, and 
in some parts of the arid West it lives at times 
to a considerable extent on the cattle and 
smaller animals that fall victims to drought or 
other catastrophe. Several of the early orni¬ 
thological writers, including Wilson, mention 
its abundance along the river below Niagara 
Falls, whither it used to resort for fish and for 
the carcasses of the various animals that had 
been precipitated over the falls. Wilson tells 
also that on one occasion when many thou¬ 
sands of tree squirrels were drowned in attempt¬ 
ing to cross the Ohio river not far fr’om Wheel¬ 
ing, W. Va., and a great number drifted to the 
shore, a bald eagle for several successive days 
regaled itself on them. Sometimes it drives 
away the gathered vultures or the dogs from 
their repast and keeps them at a respectful dist¬ 
ance until its hunger is satisfied. Furthermore, 
it does not hesitate even to pursue the vultures 
and compel them to disgorge, when if it fail to 
catch the coveted morsels before they reach the 
ground it alights and devours them. Audubon 
relates that on one occasion he saw it kill a 
vulture that for some reason was unable com¬ 
pletely to disgorge. 
Economic Status. 
Since the bald eagle feeds largely on fish of 
various kinds, it of course destroys species use¬ 
ful to man, and to this degree must be con¬ 
sidered injurious; but the total amount of this 
harm would seem to be comparatively small, for 
much of its finny prey consists of species not 
economically important. On the other hand the 
devouring of vast quantities of dead, fish, that 
if left to decay would pollute the air, is a posi¬ 
tive benefit. Its destruction of ducks, geese, 
and other waterfowl, all of which are available 
as food for man, is perhaps its most serious be¬ 
cause most frequent fault; but this is to a con¬ 
siderable extent local, and confined largely to 
the winter and the seasons of migration. It at¬ 
tacks gulls and other non-game water birds so 
seldom that even were their economic value 
much greater than it is there would be little 
against the eagle on this score. Upland game 
birds are not often molested, and song birds are 
evidently considered too small to be worth 
pursuit. 
Although not often attacking large animals, 
it sometimes kills fawns. This, however, is 
much more than offset by its destruction of 
such more or less noxious mammals as oppos- 
sunis. raccoons, ground squirrels, prairie-dogs, 
rabbits, rats and mice. 
The complaints lodged against this eagle for 
the destruction of poultry and the smaller do¬ 
mestic animals, such as pigs and sheep seem 
to come largely from the southeastern United 
States, in localities where the bird is rather 
numerous, where other food is at times scarce,. 
Concluded on page 685. 
