The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-25

like parrots, it sees everything which passes below and darts downward at frequent intervals.
 It is after surface fish, minnows, chubs. dace and such things, seldom capturing anything more than three inches long. The kingfsher is success ful about once in three times, which is very good average for non-water bird, and as it is very industrious it gets plenty for itself and it's sitting mate and later for the young in the nest among the sedges by the lakes edge. A man who watches small gulls flying and diving over lake will find that they do not average more than one kill to six dives, and the kingfsher has them clearly out-classed.
 No angler, though, ever has under stood how the great fish-eagle gets along. This huge bird, with a wing spread of six feet and big body, needs much food. Moreover, except in late fall and winter, it has always brood of squalling young that are unsuitable.
 Both the male and the female fish for the nest, but it is a mystery how they manage to obtain enough for them selves, let alone the youngsters. The fish-eagle cannot swim; it cannot dive; it is slow of flight; it cannot pick up anything with it's beak.
 The kingdsher hits the water spear bill downward like a flash of blue and white light, but the fish-eagle, ponder ous, cumbrous and deliberative, has to demand antipnIXT ifc al Aiaes slowly over the lake at a height of ten to twenty yards. Seeing fish near the surface, it lowers itself above it, drops it's legs down for six inches and brings its long talons together in the effort to grasp.
 While it is doing this it's great wings are pounding the air to keep it aloft. ] Nobody knows what would happen if it fell in. A more awkward take-a- chance-anyhow fisher does not exist. It would seem that any fish with an atom of sense would get out of the way, since unquestionably plenty of time is afforded. A bass idling on the surface and seeing the great shadow descending would easily shoot twenty yards before the terrible talons were let down. In fact, the man who has seen a fish eagle catch fish is rare, though every angler has seen it try lots of times. The eagle after one of these attempts gets aloft awkwardly for hundred feet or so, then takes perch on some dead tree overlooking the water and appa- rently thinks about it for 8 while, re- solving to do better. Then it takes wing and goes through its opera bouffe chase once more.
 Eagles do catch fish, for now and then about sunset one is seen winging it's way toward the nest with a hand some bass or pike in its claws, but the prey must have been asleep when taken. The fish-eagle is a good deal of a scavenger and probably much of it's sustenance is gained in cleaning up dead fish.
 Lots of them are killtd and not eaten by other fish. Often a muskallonge or big bass will halt a smaller swimmer and kill it when its own maw is gorged, and the dead thing floats away. The fish-eagle takes it in almost any stage of decomposition.
 The most frequent victims to reven- ous game fishes belong to the class of suckers. They are slow and get out into deep water often, and there they meet fate If man sees a big fat sucker floating belly upward with a gash in it he may know that muskal- longe, pike, pickerel or bass has been at work, If he looks for the body of the sucker the next day he will not find it. The fish-eagle will have been along. New York Sun.