Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-05-02
A DANGEROUS SPORT.
THE DARING ROBBERY OF AN
EAGLES NEST.
Lowered Over a Cliff to Fight the Huge
Bird in Midair-Painful Blows and
Scratches from the Eagles Talons-
Collecting Eggs.

While spending winter In the
Black hills two years ago writer In
the Omaha Bee had an adventure
which, while strictly speaking 1T does
not come under the head of out-of-door
sports, yet might prove of interest to
those interested in ornithology and It's
branches. A cattleman from the foot
hill country, near Hermosa, CHANGED
to come into the bank at H City
one day in March and while giving us
some bits of news from that region in
cidentally told us of an eagles nest
that he had passed on his way up to
our camp" He went on to say that the
eagles had nested on a certain cliff for
some years and that owing to the in
accessibility of their eyrie they had
never been molested. Having myself
once been an egg collector l felt quite
return Of my former enthusiasm at
his account and determined to try to
reach the nest if only for the excite
ment connected with the undertaking.
! Accordingly / obtained leave of alb
sence for a few days, and, having en-
listed my friend, Mr.. B. Of Chicago, in
the enterprise, on the following morn
ing we set out for the southern foot
hills and the eagles nest. We were
well provided for all emergencies, hav-
ing in the blackboard in addition to
plentiful supply of food and robes our
rifles and revolvers, several hundred
feet of rope, pair of climbing irons,
and a prospector's bag. A huge
butte" rose 500 or 600 feet up from
the plain, it's sides so steep as to be al
most precipitous, while on the side
nearest creek, which we had followed
for several miles, was a limestone
cliff sheer up and down for about 300
feet. About half way up it's face on
ledge was the nest, great black OBJ
ject that contrasted strangely with its
yellowish-whit background. We took
in the situation and naturally decided
to ascend the butte to point directly
over the nest. In the meantime we
had only noticed one of the eagles,
monstrous bird, that slowly sailed
around a little above our heads, but
had not as yet showed any signs of
hostility. My friend now proceeded to
tie one end of the rope securely around
my chest; then, running the other end
around stout scrub, he braced himself
firmly and stood ready to pay out"
the rope as needed. Thus secured
against any probable accident, care
fully made my way down to the edge of
the cliff and fired my revolver. Di-
rectly the other eagle came soaring out
from the cliff and began circling
around, giving vent to shrill screams
or whistles. So, first seeing that my
bag was secured and my revolver in
easy reach, l gave him the word and in
another moment was dangling in the
air. l at once found that the cliff
shelved in almost from the top, and as
rock / soon began to spin slowly
around, which did not add to my COM
fort Thus l must have gone down a
hundred feet and was just congratulate
ing myself upon an approach to at
least temporary safety, when 1 sud-
denly heard close at hand a tremen-
dous tapping of wings and the next
L
excited senses at least a score of
heavy blows on the head and Shout
ders, accompanied by several fearful
scratches upon my head and neck. l
had been holding the rope with both
hands, but now instinctively, l ducked
my head under one hand and arm and
with the other grabbed my revolver. l
/ nn1y hut 1iutr
somewhat dangerous position, swung
the revolver, butt end up land it was a
very heavy one), violently back and
forth above my head for moment, re-
ceiving at the same time a blow on the
hand from one of the eagles talons.
| This proved to be the best move I
could have made, for it drove them
back, and, looking carefully up, took
hurried aim and succeeding in drop
ping one of the birds, which fright
ened the other one away. Meanwhile
nv friend, ignorant of the true state of
affairs, had continued to lower me, and
just as I terminated this strange en-
counter felt my feet touch the ledge,
and after resting a little l worked my
way along to the nest. 1t was huge
affair, fully three feet high and as
many in diameter, and was construct
ed of sticks of various sizes, some of
them as big as ones wrist, but dwin-
ding in size to small twigs at the top.
1t was almost fat scantily lined with
pieces of bark and feathers from the
breast of the female bird, and con-
tanned the eggs. The eggs, fine speci-
mems, which l have still in my collec-
ton, measured 41ax2% inches and
were of a cream-colored hue, irregular
ly marked with reddish-brown
blotches. Well, to bring the story to
a close, after securing the eggs l gave
the signal to be raised and finally
reached terra firma once more, but a
sorry-looking sight, with coat and COL
lar soaked with blood from the
scratches on my neck and head and
large strips of skin torn from my hand.
After this we soon made our way down
the butte and secured the eagle. 1t