Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-05
THE EAGLE IN MAINE.
Lazy on the Coast but Worthy it's
Name in the Mountains.

Seven Islands, Me, August Aft you
wish to learn what good effect a life
in the woods has upon character" said
Amasa Clark, the oldest guide on the
Allagash, you should watch those
white-headed eagles out there on the
do-nothing thing an eagle is by the
seashore. He sits on a limb of big
tree all day and never moves until he
sees an Industrious fish hawk dive down
and make a capture, when the eagle
shows enough life to put chase to the
hawk and scare him until he drops the
fish, when the eagle comes along and
takes it away and eats it, as if hawks
were built for nothing except to provide
dinners for idle and over-bearing
eagles It's my private opinion, which
I'm making public now for the first
time, that if it were not for the fish
hawk every eagle which lives along the
ocean front would starve to death in
side of a year.
But move this same eagle 200 miles
inland and put him and his wife up on
the side of tall mountain where they
can have a good chance to see what is
going on and the bird undergoes great
change. lie stops watching to find out
what the fish hawks are going to do
and gets right down to doing work on
his own hook. The change in his looks
is as wonderful as in his habits of life.
No sooner does he move inland than he
pays more attention to his personal
appearance, spending hours in cleaning
up his feathers and preening himself
so as to look smart and wide awake
the way all big birds should do. People
who see the bird of freedom along the
coast are always Disguised with him
and wonder why a wild turkey or some
decent looking fowl has not been
chosen for the national emblem, but if
they will come up here among the
pines ana hemlocks and study the
eagles for a few weeks they can learn
easily that our ancestors made no mis-
take in their choice.
"Best of all, the inland eagle not only
captures his own food, but he displays
much skill-not to call it reason-in
selecting and taking what he wants to
eat Last week I saw a pair of eagles
kill deer on Mount Hersey that gave
me lesson in trailing and overtaking
big game.
After the Allagash River sweeps
around the base of the mountain it
| widens out into big swamp or lagoon,
| where the deer like to stay during
| warm weather, the water keeping them
cool and warding off the flies, which are
very annoying in summer Toward
night, when the brown mosquitoes
come out in force they drive the deer
from the wet grounds to the windy hill
tops, where they stay for hours at a
time chewing their cuds and having a
good time. ] had noticed this habit
/ last year and thought was the only
| thing living besides the deer that had
seen what was going on. But the
eagles had seen the deer as soon as
did and had laid their plans for having
| fresh venison for breakfast.
Zone evening just before shutdown
| saw this pair of eagles circling the
| peak where the deer were lying, as ii
they were trying to count how many
there were in the herd. All at once the
male eagle, who had the whittier head
made a swoop into the herd, which
scattered the deer in all directions
Then saw that the eagle had fixed his
talons into the back of one lively doe