The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-02
BIRD or FREEDOM AT HIS BEST.
Lazy at the SeashOre. but Justifies His
Name in the Inland Mountains.


SEVEN ISLANDS. Me July 9O-@If you with
to learn what good effect life in the woods
has upon character said Amasa Clark,
the oldest guide on the Allsgash, "you
should watch those whte-headed eagles
out there on the cliff. Most OF you have
seen what do-nothng thing an eagle is
by the seashore. He sits on a limb Of
big tree oil day and never moves until he
sees an Industrious fish hawk dive down
and make a pture, 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 1t away ard
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 il it We're not for the fish hawk
every eagle which lives along the ocean
front would starve to death inside Of
year
But move this same eagle 200 miles
inland and put him and his wife up on the
side Of a tall mounta in where they can have
n good chance to see what is going on and
the bird undergoes greet CHI. nge. He
stops watching to find out whot the fish
hawks are going to do and gets right down
to doing work on his own hook The change
in his looks IL as wonderful as in his habits
of life No sooner does he move inldnd
than he p w more attention to his personal
nppe' france, spending hours in Gle ming up
his feathers and preening himself 30 as TO
look smart and wide awake, the way ell
big birds should do. People who see the
bird Of free' ON long the co at are always
Disguised with him and wonder why q wild
turkey or some decent looking fowl h not
been chosen for the n tional emblem, but
If they will come up here 9mong the pines
and henllocks and study the giles for
few weeks they can learn silly that or
ancestors m'de no mistake in their choi'" ..
Best Of al, the inland @ gle not only & pit
ures His own food, but h displ w mi y
skll--not 10 call it reason-in selecting and
taking whit he we nts 10 eft. II st week
I saw pair Of eagles kill deer on Mount
Heresy that gave mo a lesson in trailing
and overt" king Big erme
After the All. az sh River sweeps around
the base of the mount in it widels out i.Ito
a big swamp or COON, where the deer
like to stay during warm weather. the
we ter keeping them cool and warding of
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 hilltops,
where they stay for hours at time chewing
| their cuds and having 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.
"One evening just before shutdown saw
| this pr ir of giles circling the peak where
/ the deer were lying, as If they were trying
/ to count how many there we're in the herd.
| All at once the male EMS, who had tho
whittier head, made swocp into the herd,
which SC tered the deer in all directions.
/ Then I saw that the eagle had fixed his
IT, Ions into the ba ok OF one lively doe and was
hanging on for all he was worth. As soon
as the doe tried to run In any direction ex-
cept toward the cliff, the old she eagle would
come in and head her Off by pecking her
eyes, thus compelli e the doe to run in the
other direction. This game was kept up
for a quarter of an hour or longer, and
though could not SEQ all that was going on,
am convinced thnt the female eagle at last
blinded the doe, for after running about
without any purpose for few minutes.
she headed for the ledge and ran right on
over the edge of the cliif. which Is more Tn, n
three hundred feet high at that place. ~
the way down the male az gle unlocked his
claws and let the doe complete the journey
alone Next day when | went to the side
Of the mountain found the eagles gorglng
themselves upon venison from lat doe that
had both OF her eyes picked out, ana am
willing to bet my rifle against plug OF
! tobacco that it was the same doe which l
saw driven over the big precipice.
an all the pictures that are printed OF
eagles, the birds are drawn holding rab-
bits in their claws, which seems very funny
to us who live up here in the woods and
who know that no rabbit ever comes out
in the DAYTIME when eagles are abroad,
for an eagle Ia az blind at night as a hen
is and goes to roost before II is dark. III
eagles cannot get any rabbits to eat they
make up for tho lack by catching every
hedgehog they can find. 1t IL very funny
how a hedgehog, which IL afraid OF no
beast that walks on feet or hoofS, Will run
| for the woods IA soon as he has suspl-
! cion that an eagle Is abroad. The way
| the eagle does the job IL interesting, TOO.
Finding a hedgehog browsing among the
! clover Of the meadows, he swoops down
upon the animal and digging his taons
! into the nose of the beast, snatches 1t aoft
| in tho air before any defence can be made
! Once removed from the ground, the poor
hedgehog has no defence, for hsn ing
! as IL does by the snout from the ca gle 9
, claws, il cannot reach up to strike WITH
its armed tail, 80 it just wriggles about ana
gnashes its teeth while the bird sails higher
I and higher until they come over an ex-
posed ledge, when the eagle let's go and the
hedgehog drops TO the hard rock and 10
( killed. Then the eagle turns his prey over
| on it's back, and attacking the underside,
which is free from spines. has nearly
meal upon flesh that no other bird or beast
| of prey has the courage to take.