The National tribune., 1906-12-13

tn ough in a few instances they have
been known viciously to attack, the in
truder Only one brood is reared, and
if eggs or young be destroyed no fur
ther attempt to rear young is made the
same season. Often the old birds. par
ticularly in the South, frequent the nest
during much of the year. using it as a
kind of general rendezvous.
Food Habits.
The bald eagle lives partly after the
manner of vultureS, ,rging itself to
repletion when opportunity offers, then
perhaps obliged to fast for days. Lack
of food even for a considerable period
is apparently no serious inconvenience,
since Mr.. George A. Boardman 0nce
kept an individual without food for 32
days. The indigestible portions of it's
food are ultimately disgorged in the
shape of pellets that resemble those of
owls. One of these pellets, found by
Mr.. Edward A. Preble, of the Bi0lOgi-
cal Survey, in a nest at Mount Vernon,
Va, some years ago, was almost round,
about one and three-quarters inches in
diameter, and composed entirely of the
feathers of poultry, together with some
mammal hair. The young Of this spe-
cies appear to be fed IN the same kinds
of food as are eaten by the adults.
FOOd-Fish.
Fish seems to be the principal food
of the bald eagle, and when obtainable
is often preferred to anything else. The
dead fish found along the shores of sea
or lake or river, those that the eagle
catches by its own efforts, and those
of which it robs the osprey are alike
acceptable. In many places 1t obtains
a good share of its food from the dead
fish cast up by the waves. Mr.. William
Brewster mentions that in 1879 it was
abundant about Lake Umbagog, Maine,
drawn thither to feed on the suckers
that in great numbers had died and
been left on the marshes and flats by
the receding water, while Audubon re-
lates that 1t was frequently seen to pick
up catfish heads which were floating
on the st. Johns River, Florida. Mr..
G. 2. Streater found ii common at
Sauk, Wash, in September, 1891, feed
ing on the dead salmon (Oncorhynchus
sp.) along the shore, and similar OBJ
servations have been made by others
on the Columbia and other rivers of
the Pacific Coast. Mr.. J. c. Hughes
records that along the lower Fraser
River In British Columbia he has found
il feeding extensively on the oolachans,
or eulachons (Thaleichthys pacificus),
a small fish that is abundant. there /;
and so numerous does the eagle become
at times when the fish are running that
r.
as many as a thousand in "A distance of
three miles.
But the bald eagle not infrequentIy
goes fishing for itself, using a variety
Of methods, according to circumstances.
Sometimes from its perch on the sum-
NIT of dead tree it launches down
ward and, falling Ike a stone, seiZes
it's prey; sometimes it hunts on the
wing, much like ar osprey, and when
q fish is perceived poises by rapid wing
beats, finally dropping into the water
even from a great hight, and not in
frequently becoming almost complete
ly submerged; then, again, II varies
this last method by flying leisurely
along near the surface of the water
Audubon mentions that along Perkio-
men Creek, near Philadelphia, Pa, he
saw 1t on several occasions wading in
the shadows and striking at the small
fish with its bill, and other observers
elsewhere have noted similar habit
It has been seen scrambling over the
ice of a pond, trying to reach the fish
below; and Mr.. w. L. Dawson, in his
Birds of Ohio" says that at the Lick
| ing Reservoir, Ohio, it is reported In
Winter to watch near the air holes in
the Ice for the fish that from time to
| time seek the surface. Mr.. ]. G. Coop
er has seen it catch a flying fish in the
air, and the amazing celerity necessary
for the performance of such an exploit
may readily be imagined.
I Altho the bald eagle does often fish
for itself It finds a much easier ant
more congenial task in robbing tn,
I mild-mannered osprey of his finny prey
| These attacks are of such common
occurrence in some localities that the,
are taken by the osprey usually as &
matter of course; but sometimes pa
ticnce becomes exhausted and mum.
ber of ospreys successfully unite tc
drive away the eagle.
About half of the stomachs of the
bald eagle examined in the Biological
Survey contained fish, and the follow
| ing species. mostly additional to those
that have already been menti oned, were
| Identified: Fork-tailed catfish Uctalu
rus furcatus), striped bass tRoccu!
tineatus), gold fish (Carassius auratus)
eel (Anguilla chrisypal, sundah (Eupo