Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-12
Eagles.
HOW They are Captured and How they Live and Die in Captivity.
 From the New York Sum-

How They are Captured and How they Live and Die in Captivity. From the New York Sum-
 Two men in shooting jackets, two guns, and box about three feet square, with slats nail ed across the top, on an upward bound trai Il on the Hudson River railroad the other morn ing, were the subjects of much speculation in the mind of an inquisitive fellow passenger. Theories being unsatisfactory, and curiosity getting the mastery, the inquiry was ventur- ed:
 May ask what game you are afterf"
 Eagles" said the man with the Scotch cap.
 Perhaps just shade of incredulity on his interlocutor's face led the sportsman to con tinue 'Rather queer game, that, isn't it <? You see, me and Charley here sometimes picks up such things for menageries and trav- cling shows. We've got standin' order from 8 Feladelfy man for pair O bald eagles at good round price, and We saw this little piece in the paper the other day (taking newspa- per clipping from his pocket)-
 "Scores of eagles have made their appear ance on the Tappan Zee in the past month. tame. They frequently alight on the farm fences and circle low over the river and the adjacent meadows in quest of food. They arc fine specimens of the bald-headed vari- ety."
 t'Now, if that's so," said the speaker,
 
 night"
 F'But how will you get them?"
 ''Why, just shoot 'em and coop 'em up in that box. Kill em? Oh, no you can't kill an eagle with one load of shot, not once in a hundred times trying. They're 8 mighty tough bird. But here we are, Charley. Good day, stranger" and the man and the guns and the eagle coop were dropped by the wayside and the train sped on.
 Director Conkling of the Central Park me- nagerie took up the thread of the sportman's abruptly ended narrative as he stood by the csge of the eagles in the park and watched the movements of the dozen captive birds. s'Yes, that is correct. All that we get here and we get great many for foreign parks and gardens besides those that we keep-are adult birds that have been shot on the wing. Some of them are badly hurt when we get them, but I never knew one of them to die. We patch up wounds and set broken wings and legs in apliuts and bandages, and in a marvelously short time the birds all sound again. They are remarkably hardy and live to a very old age. You see that pair there? They were presented 10 the park when it was first open cd, more than twenty years ago, by Manager Stuart of Niblo's Garden. They were adults then, for they had white heads, which they don't get until they are three years old. We have never lost an eagle by natural death"
 ''How do they die, then ?'
 "They kill each other. They have terrible battles among themselves occasionally, and unless somebody gets to the cage in time bird or the other is killed. They scream and make such commotion that we generally know what they are at and stop them. Their favorite mode of warfare is to drown one an other in their drinking fountain. This has happened two or three times. On one occa- sion was summoned from the office by an employe, with the cry that the eagles were at it. When I reached the cage the victorious bird was holding his antagonists head under water. Iseparated them, but too late-the bird was drowned"
 s'Then it is to be inferred that the eagle never become very tame in captivity"
 No. Those that came here twenty years ago are as fierce as on the day they came. We never try any familiarity with them. One of the keepers went inside of the cage once with the fresh meat to feed them. They bounced on him, tore his face and clothing, and half killed the poor fellow. He never ventured in- side again. Rats and mice, too, instinctively give that cage a wide berth. Occasionally rat, attracted by the refuse food, Intentionally crawls through the bars, and in twinkling an eagle gobbles him up. We feed them rats good deal, in place of meal"
 But, MT. Bergh-?"
 t'Oh, no we kill the rats for them, ex- plained Mir. Conklin. ''See those sparrows?" (Pointing to colony of the birds that have built their nests i@the top of the cage Sin guIarly enough the eagles live on the best of terms With them, ana never aLLempG CO e6G them up The little fellows make themselves perfectly at home. The eagles never breedin captivity The old female bird makes coarse nest every year from sense of duty, lays two or three eggs, little larger than ducks, and sits on them patiently.
 ''Excspt those two big fellows there, Euro pean sea eagles, our birds ara all of the Amer ican or bald headed variety. We can't keep the golden eagles For some unexplained reason they go blind in captivity, and we have to kill them or they would starve to death. We get birds from hunters in all parts of the country. One of them is from Florida, ona from Pennsylvania, others from the Adiron- dacks, the Oatskills and Canada. Ths smaller birds came from the South. They attain their biggest size and finest plumRge in the North. Speaking of feathers, there is quite demand on us for the larger quills. Lots of Scotch men from the Oaledonian and other societies always want them for their balls and fancy dress occasions"