National Museum, 8; Philadelphia Academy, 2; Boston Society, 2;
Cambridge Museum, 2; Coll. R. Ridgway, 2. Total, 16.
_Measurements._
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
|Sex.| Wing. | Tail. | Culmen. | Tarsus. |Middle Toe.|Specimens.|
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
| ♂ |23.00–24.50|14.00–15.00|1.50–1.62|3.65–3.80| 2.40–2.80| 5 |
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
| ♀ |25.00–27.00|15.00–16.00|1.68–1.85|4.15–4.20| 2.55–2.80| 7 |
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
A young male from Massachusetts (No. 39, Lexington; Dr. S. Kneeland), in
the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History, has the tail
plain black, the extreme base and tip white.
Though the Golden Eagles of North America can be distinguished by the
characters given in the diagnosis on p. 312 from those of Europe, the
differences are appreciable only on direct comparison. The American bird
is darker in all its shades of color, the difference being most marked
in the young plumage, which in var. _chrysaëtus_ has the tarsal features
nearly white, and in var. _canadensis_ light brown, the brown of other
portions being also considerably darker. The American bird appears to be
rather the larger.
HABITS. The Ring-tailed or Golden Eagle of North America is found
throughout the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from New
Mexico to the higher Arctic regions.
In its geographical distribution, the Golden Eagle of North America
appears to be chiefly confined to the mountainous regions, and the more
northern portions, but to be nowhere abundant. Sir John Richardson saw
but few individuals in the Arctic regions, nor does he appear ever to
have met with its nest. Individual birds on the Atlantic coast have
been occasionally obtained,—once as far south as Philadelphia, twice
at Washington,—but very rarely. Several specimens appear to have been
obtained among the mountains of New Mexico by Dr. Henry’s party.
Although not mentioned by either Dr. Heermann or Dr. Gambel in their
lists of the birds of California, it was found in Oregon by Dr.
Townsend, and is said by Dr. Cooper to be quite common in almost all
parts of California during the colder months. It is, however, much less
numerous than the White-headed Eagle. It is very much more a mountain
bird, and its descent into the plains or to the sea-coast is said to be
quite rare. Dr. Adolphus Heermann, in his Report of the survey between
Fort Yuma and San Francisco, speaks of seeing one of these birds near
Livermore Pass, and of meeting others in Northern California, and of an
individual killed in the mountains near Mokelumne River. He regarded
it, both in that state and elsewhere, as a rare and wild bird. It is
not mentioned as occurring in Greenland. It was found breeding in Napa
Valley, Cal., by Mr. F. Gruber.
[Illustration: _Aquila chrysaëtus._]
A bird was secured alive in Brighton, near Boston, in 1837, by being
taken in a trap which had been set for another purpose. Its occurrence,
however, near the sea-coast, is very rare, and even among the mountains
it is never found except in occasional pairs. It breeds in the
mountainous portions of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York,
and was formerly not unfrequent among the cliffs of the Hudson River.
Steamboats and railroads have, however, driven this wild bird from
its romantic retreats in that quarter. In Franconia, N. H., for quite
a number of years, a pair occupied a nest on an inaccessible rock,
near the top of a mountain, known as Eagle Cliff, in sight of, and
opposite, the Profile House. Repeated efforts have been made to reach
its nest, but thus far without success. In the summer of 1855 a renewed
attempt was made to scale the precipice over which the shelving rock,
on which the nest stands, projects. A party was formed, and although
they succeeded in ascending the mountain, which had never been achieved
before, they could reach only a point beyond and above, not the nest
itself. The attempt to pass to it was abandoned as too perilous. The
party reported a large collection of bones in its immediate vicinity,
with other evidences of the accumulated plunder of many years, as well
as a plentiful supply of fresh food at the time visited.
Without here seeking to affect the question of identity of species, it
is interesting to note certain peculiarities in the European Golden
Eagle so far not noticed or of rare occurrence in the American birds.
Mr. I. W. P. Orde in the Ibis of 1861 (p. 112), gives a very interesting
account of a pair of Golden Eagles, which the previous season built
their nest in a large Scotch fir-tree, in a wood on the southern bank
of Glen Lyon, in Perthshire, within a few hundred yards of Meggerine
Castle. Four eggs were laid, two of which were hatched. The nest was
one of the Eagles’ own construction, and is specially interesting from
being in such near proximity to human habitations. Mr. Tristram (Ibis,
1859, p. 283, in his valuable note on the birds of North Africa), while
he never observed this Eagle in any of the cliffs among the mountain
ranges of the desert, found it almost gregarious, so abundant was it
among the Dayets. In one wood he saw no less than seven pairs of the
Eagles, each pair with a nest. There were, besides, many unoccupied
nests, and, indeed, very few terebinths of any size were without a huge
platform of sticks on the topmost boughs. The birds were undisturbed,
and consequently very fearless. On the other hand Mr. Salvin, in the
same volume (p. 180) among the mountains of Eastern Atlas, describes
very different manner of life in the same birds. “Whatever rock a
pair may choose for their eyrie, there they reign alone in dignified
solitude, nor do they allow a single Vulture, Kite, or indeed any other
species of rapacious bird, to occupy with their nest a single spot in
the same rock, however eligible for the purpose; nor are these other
species ever to be seen in the haunts of their exclusive majesties. The
whole southern precipice at Djebel Dekma was thus tenanted by a single
pair of this Eagle, as also several other rocks that came under our
notice. Instances of the Golden Eagle building in trees were by no means
of unfrequent occurrence.”
[Illustration: =12006=, ♀. NAT. SIZE.
_Aquila canadensis._]
The extreme southern range of the European bird, its gregarious habit,
and the frequency of its building in trees, are all peculiarities not
observed in the American form. They are not necessarily conclusive, but
are at least suggestive.
The Golden Eagle in this country usually constructs its nest on the
sides of steep, rocky crags, where its materials are coarsely heaped
together on a projecting shelf of rock. These consist of large sticks,
loosely arranged, and lined with other softer materials. In rare
instances they are said to build on trees, where rocky cliffs are not
to be met with. The eggs are usually three in number; sometimes two, or
only one. Mr. Audubon describes them as measuring 3.50 inches in length
by 2.50 in breadth; the shell thick and smooth, dull white, brushed
over with undefined patches of brown, which are most numerous at the
larger end. This description is not quite accurate in regard to size.
The European egg is presumed to be larger than the American, yet the
largest I have ever seen measures but 3.19 inches in length by 2.31 in
breadth. An egg of the European bird in the British Museum, and another
represented in Hewitson’s British Oölogy, which closely resembled it,
were marked over the entire surface with small but distinct blotches
of reddish-brown on a white ground. One in my collection, taken
in Scotland, is nearly unmarked. A distinctly bluish-white ground
is faintly stained with a few very obscure markings of slate and
purplish-brown.
Mr. MacFarlane furnishes very full and interesting notes and
observations on the habits of our _canadensis_, as attentively studied
by him in the neighborhood of Anderson River, near the Arctic Ocean. Our
limits will only permit us to give a summary of his valuable memoranda.
In a large majority of instances the nests were built against the face
of a steep bank, some sixty or seventy feet from the ground, and about
thirty from the summit. They were very strongly constructed with dry
sticks, usually of willow, and formed a platform on the top, in the
centre of which the eggs were found on a bed composed of moss, hay, and
feathers. These platforms were usually about six by seven feet, and
ranged from four to six in height. It is said to be “not very scarce
in that quarter,” and to be “a resident, in the summer, of the entire
Arctic coast and rivers.” Mention is made of ten nests observed by him,
and eggs taken therefrom. In several instances these eggs were white
and unspotted, exciting his doubts whether they might belong to the
_leucocephalus_.
According to Mr. MacFarlane they feed on ducks, mice, and other small
animals, partridges, and the fawn of the reindeer. In confinement they
are fierce and nearly untamable, though they readily eat the food that
is given them, whether fish or meat. Even when taken young from the
nest they evince the same fearless and intractable disposition. In one
instance a young female killed its older companion by piercing it with
her talons. When first observed, she was standing on and plucking the
feathers from the body of the slain bird. This was the second bird
this same ferocious, but comparatively tame, Eagle had thus destroyed.
When the cage was removed outside, though the weather was very cold,
the Eagles did not seem to mind it much, but exercised themselves with
jumping off and on their roosting-pole, and seemed very much interested
in all that was taking place within the Fort square. They kept their
plumage in a cleanly condition, and were generally a very clean bird
in all respects. During the fine weather the Eagles were more lively
than on other occasions. When feeding they drooped both wings, and, if
disturbed, arched their necks and moved their heads in a threatening
manner, spreading out their tails like a fan. They grasped the meat
or fish in the talons of either leg, and tore it with their beaks.
After feeding, they invariably removed any blood or other impurities
that may have adhered to the beak by scratching it with their talons
or rubbing it against the bars of their cage. Several of these birds,
in confinement, especially the female referred to, when their cage was
approached, would endeavor to attack Mr. MacFarlane, descending from
their sleeping-pole and making a rush at the front bars of the cage,
spreading the wings and flapping them with great force, and making
active demonstrations with beak and talons. Occasionally they would get
out of their cages; then it was no easy matter to get them back again,
as, when approached, they would throw themselves on their backs and
thrust out their talons in the most formidable manner. They nest as
early as the last of April or early in May, as largely developed embryos
were found on the 27th of May. When their nests were pillaged they
generally deserted them; but in one instance, where the female had been
snared upon her nest, and the eggs taken, the same nest was occupied the
following season by the male with another mate. The new mate was shot,
and proved to be a mature bird. Almost invariably the male birds were
too wary to be either shot or taken in a snare. Two of the nests of this
bird, pointed out by the Indians, appeared to have been used for several
years, and had been known to their discoverers for six or seven years
previous. The nests taken were in about latitude 69° 30′.
In one particular case a nest had been discovered two years previously
by MacFarlane’s Esquimo interpreter. It had been occupied that season,
and a pair of Eagles had been recognized as its inmates. In 1863 the
nest was known to have been reoccupied, though he did not visit it. On
the 17th of May, 1864, he went to it and found both Eagles engaged in
repairing it. The female appeared to act as the builder, and the male as
the carrier of the materials, as well as the provider of provisions. The
nest was not complete, and contained two half-eaten Ptarmigans, but no
eggs. It was built against the face of a steep bank of a small stream,
and was of considerable bulk. When first constructed, the nest of this
Eagle is comparatively small, but as it is renovated every season, it
ultimately becomes large and bulky. A quantity of dry sticks and twigs
are laid lengthways over the greater portion of the platform of the
previous season, and the spaces between are filled up by smaller twigs,
mosses, and hay, and the centre is then covered with the two latter
ingredients, intermixed with deer’s hair, etc. This annual addition
varies in thickness from three to eighteen inches. In no instance did
Mr. MacFarlane find or hear of any accumulation of bones or other
_débris_ of food either on or in the neighborhood of the nests. In three
instances the nests were constructed in the tops of tall pines. In these
cases the sandy nature of the soil did not favor their building on the
sides of cliffs.
The “Mountain Eagle,” as this species is called throughout the western
regions of the United States, was found by Mr. Ridgway to be a
common species throughout the Great Basin along the line of the 40th
parallel. It was daily seen soaring about the mountains, and nested on
inaccessible cliffs. A pair—the female leading—were observed to give
chase to a Sage Hen (_Centrocercus urophasianus_), chasing her on the
wing until the fugitive dropped down to the ground from exhaustion,
when she was picked up by the foremost of the Eagles, who then flew off
together to the summit of the mountain range (the East Humboldt) near
by, where they probably had their nest.
An egg of this bird, taken by Mr. R. MacDonald among the mountains
west of the Lower Mackenzie River, measures 2.60 inches in length by
2.18 in breadth. The ground-color is of a rich pinkish cream-color,
boldly dashed with large blotches of three or four varying shades of
umber-brown, intermingled with a few finer markings of a lighter shade
of brown, and a few clouded markings of a purplish-slate. These markings
are grouped and confluent about the smaller end. Other specimens vary to
whitish, with faint obsolete blotches.