Potter LU. BiOeN? 3B Ub EeieDN 13 
catch coots, and the similarity of procedure would seem to indicate a well 
established habit. The eagle hovered over a fiock of coots, forcing them to 
dive, and when they came to the surface, simply continued the tactics until 
one became sufficiently exhausted to be an easy prey. Their keen eyes are 
proverbial. Eaton tells how, as he watched one soaring at a great height, 
the bird started downward to pick up a floating fish three miles from the 
spot where the bird had been soaring—so far away when it picked up the 
fish that he could not see it in the bird’s talons with a six-power glass. 
While he is by nature a fish eater and fish form his principal food, 
analysis of the food habits of the bald eagle shows a very wide range of 
food materials. In some seasons and localities many ducks and other 
varieties of birdlife are taken. F. H. Herrick, in a study of the food 
brought to an Ohio nest, found that in 1922 fish formed 70%, and in 1923 
as much as 96%, of the amount. In 1934, out of 105 feedings he identified 
87 as fish. Various reports, mostly from Alaska and British Columbia, tell 
of the finding of remains of gulls, cormorants, puffins, murres, guillemots, 
and some sparrows, and in the South one reported a wild turkey and 
another a turtle. On the other hand, there are many reports that show 
gophers, rats, mice, and other small mammals, and one where a fox was 
the victim. 
Many bald eagles have been shot by hunters to be mounted as trophies, 
but the greatest loss has been in Alaska. The Territorry offered a bounty 
in 1917, and in the next ten years it is estimated that 70,000 were killed. 
In recent years bounties have been paid on some 2,000 or more each year. 
The theory on which the bounty was based, that eagles took too many 
salmon, can hardly be sustained as they seldom, if ever, take any but dead 
fish that would not be of any usc to the canners in any case. 
Dr. H. C. Oberholzer in 1906 summed up by saying that “all things 
considered, the bald eagle is rather more beneficial than otherwise, since 
much of its food is of little economic value, while the good it does more 
than compensates for its opnoxious deeds.” This is recognized in Illinois 
law by the complete protection which has been given it by legislative 
enactment. It is protected in many other states and, as our “National 
Bird”, should be in all, if only for sentimental reasons. 
ft ft fT 
Fitting Monument for Benjamin T. Gault 
BENJAMIN T. GAULT, whose eager feet and keen, peering eyes traveled the 
woods and waters and prairies around the village as well as far afield, 
now rests in the heart of the nature he loved. 
And his resting spot in the little Forest Hill cemetery is a consecrated 
bit of the nature he loved. It has been so arranged by the Morton 
Arboretum, in cooperation with the memorial committee of the Benjamin 
T. Gault Bird Club. Mrs. Joseph Cudahy, chairman of the arboretum 
board, authorized the arboretum’s participation, which was executed by 
C. E. Godschalk, superintendent, in consultation with Mrs. W. E. Stofer, 
Mrs. R. A. Van Lone and Mrs. Al Chase, representing the bird club. 
