Bpblebeen Ue) UO B.OONe BU ESPEN 4I 
Quincy District 
The Eagles at Warsaw 
IFTY years ago there was a number of large pork-packing houses 
on the banks of the Mississippi River just south of Keokuk, Iowa. 
In those days bacon and ham could be bought from 7 to 12¢ a pound. 
The coarser grades of meat were not even salable, and the converting of 
these into by-products was unknown. The entrails and unsalable por- 
tions of meat were thrown into the river, thus making a wonderful feast 
for all the carrion and semi-carrion types of birds which gathered there 
for the food which was so abundant. 
Hundreds of Bald Eagles came down from the Northland each 
winter and fed upon this offal which they seized as it floated down the 
river, dragging it to a convenient sand bar, where they fed like gluttons 
until they were scarcely able to fly away. No longer does Keokuk have 
its pork-packing establishments along the river, yet the eagles have 
returned yearly to the never-to-be-forgotten land of plenty. | 
This past week 18 of these beautiful big white-headed birds were 
seated in the top of two sycamores which overlooked the river. In the 
earlier part of the season there were many more. However, it seems 
that several men locally have been shooting these magnificent American 
birds, one of them making skins and sending them East where they are 
sold for decoration purposes, while another has shot them merely to 
secure the large feathers of the tail and wings and also to possess the 
talons. (Western firms will pay $2.50 a dozen for such feathers which 
they sell to the Indians.) 
Warsaw and Hamilton are particularly lucky in having these big 
birds in their vicinity, and I am glad to report that the majority of the 
natives are proud of the confidence which the birds have shown in 
their locality. 
Robins have been reported practically every week during the winter, 
while the first Bluebirds, Meadow Larks, and Killdeer were reported 
in quantities February 28. On Sunday, February 14, hundreds of Red- 
headed Woodpeckers were common in the lowland woods, and numbers 
of them have been seen daily since. A number of Northern Pileated 
Woodpeckers have been reported from the heavy woods on the Missis- 
sippi River islands, and if these birds are not on the increase, they are at 
least more numerous in these river islands than most persons believe. 
A large nesting site of Great Blue Herons on Shadrew Island was the 
scene of a murderous attack during the nesting season last year. A tall 
sycamore contained from 14 to 20 nests, and these were shot into and 
many of the old birds and young were killed and wounded. The act was 
