The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-04-02
Something about Eagles.
How They are Captured, and How They
Live and Die in Captivity.
New York Sun.l

Two men in shooting jackets, two guns, and
a box about three feet square, with Stats nailed
across the top, on an upward bound train on
the Hudson River Railroad the other morning,
were the subjects of much speculation in the
being unsatisfactory, and curiosity getting the
mastery, the inquiry was ventured
"May I ask what game you are after?"
Eagles" said the man with the Scotch cap.
Perhaps just shade of incredulity on his
interlocutor's face led the sportsman to contin-
ue: "Rather queer game, that, isn't it? You
see, me and Charley here sometimes picks up
such things for menageries and travelling
shows. We've got standin' order from
Feladelfy man for pair o. bald eagles at a
good round price, and we saw this little piece
in the paper the other day (taking newspaper
clipping from his pocket:
"Scores of eagles have made their appear
ance on the Tappan Zee in the past month.
Apparently driven by hunger, they are very
tame. They frequently alight on the farm
fences and circle low over the river and the
adjacent meadows in quest of food. They are
fine specimens of the bald-headed variety"
'Now, if that's so," said the speaker, "wel
have pair O. them birds before night"
"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
hundred times trying They're mighty
tough bird. But here We are, Charley.
Good-day, stranger" and the men and the
guns and the eagle coop were dropped by the
wayside and the train sped on.
Director Conklin of the Central Park Me-
nagerie took up the thread of the sportsman's
abruptly ended narrative as he stood by the
cage of eagles in the park and watched the
movements of the dozen captive birds. "Yes,
that is correct. All that we get here-and we
get great many for foreign parks and gardens
be sides 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
never knew one of them to die. We patch
up wounds and set broken wings and legs in
splints and bandages, and in marvelously
short time the birds are all sound again.
They are remarkably hardy and live to very
old age. You see that pair there? They were
presented to the park when it was first opened
more than twenty years ago, by Manager Stu
art of Niblo's Garden. They were adult birds
then, for they had white heads, which they
don't get till they are three years old. We
never lost an eagle by natural DEATH"
"How do they die, then?"
"They kill each other. They have terrible
battles among themselves occasionally and un-
less somebody gets to the cage in time one bird
or the other is killed. They scream and make
such a commotion that we generally know
what they are at and stop them. Their favor
ite mode of warfare is to drown one another in
their drinking fountain. This has happened
two or three times. On one occasion 1 was
summoned from the office by an employe with
the cry that the eagles were at it. When l
reached the cage the victorious bird was hold
ing his antagonists head under water. sep
arated them, but too late-the bird was
drowned"
''Then it is to be inferred that the eagles
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 pounced
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, incautiousy
crawls through the bars, and in a twinkling an
eagle gobbles him up. We feed them rats a
good deal in place of meat"
"But Mr.. Bergh-?"
"Oh no; we kill the rats for them," ex-
planned Mr.. Conklin. ''See those sparrows?"
fpointing to a colony of the birds that have
built their nests in the top of the cage.] "Sin-
gularly enough, the eagles live OF the best of
terms with them, and are never tempted to
eat them up. The little fellows make them
selves perfectly at home. The eagles never
breed in captivity. That old female bird makes
a coarse nest every year from sense OF duty,
lays two or three eggs little larger than a
ducks and sits on them patiently. but never
matches them.''
Except tt ose two big fellows there. Euro
pean sea eagles, our birds are all of the Amer
lean OF bald-headed variety. We can't keep
the golden eagles. For some unexplained rea-
son they 90 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 coun-
| try. One of them is from Florida, one from
| Pennsylvania, and others from the Adiron-
dacks, the Catskills, and Canada. The small
est birds come from the South. They attain
| their biggest size and finest plumage in the
| North. Speaking of feathers, there is quite a
| demand on us for the large quilts. Lots of
| Scotchmen from Caledonian and other socie-
| ties always want them for their balls and fam
| cy dress occasions"