The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-12-23

Ia Eagle was known as the king
"a of birds, and this proud title
has rightly chung to him
throughout the ages. He is q
true king, and indeed would seem
aware of his exalted position. He is
seen at his best perched upon some
prominent rock where he scans the
corrie below with stern and noble
gaze, or sailing on motionless wings
in the teeth of gale. On calm day,
especially when rising from the
ground, the eagle presents an almost
ungainly appearance, but he seems to
revel in the gale, no matter how
fiercely it may blow. Few, If any, of
our birds are SO Independent of the
weather as the eagle. No matter how
severe the snow or frost, he can al
ways prey on the luckless grouse or
ptarmigan in the vicinity, or capture
the mountain hare, and bear it
screaming atoft. AS far as our ex-
perience goes, however, the eagle will
not take ptarmigan when there are
grouse In the vicinity-probably the
grouse is to him as well as to man
kind a more tasty morsel than its
mountain relative. AS is natural to a
bird to large extent Independent of
the weather, the Golden Eagle is a
very early hester, and the hen bird
lays her eggs before the other birds
of the highlands are thinking of do
nestle duties.
Tho ole rosortc ~ fuo different
kinds of nesting sites-an ancient
Scots pine on the edge of some out
lying forest, or a ledge on a rock.
When the nest is in the former situa-
ton, the hen bird can sit through the
heaviest snowstorm with little incon-
venience, but on a ledge of rock she
may be forced from her eyrie by an
accumulation of snow drifted in from
above. The writer visited an eyre
situated in one of the stormiest dis
tricts of the Highlands, and, when the
hillside near the eyre was reached,
it was found that the ground was Gov
cred with quite thirty inches of fresh
heavy storm for the time of year. The
eyrie was situated on ledge of rock
in small gorge, at height of con-
siderably over 1000 feet, and was
built against young mountain ash
tree. Approaching the nesting site
from below, we had the pleasure,
when some 400 yards from the eyrie,
of seeing the cock bird rise from a
ledge and soar out over the cliff. Not
long afterwards the hen was also OBJ
served to rise from the nest, and to
join her mate in the distance 1t
seemed almost impossible, from the
depth Of snow on the ground, to i'm
agine that any bird could have sue
ceeded in protecting her eggs from
the storm, so we eagerly scaled the
rock-a matter of some considerable
difficulty and danger on account of
the snow covering the ledge, and at
length-from very precarious foot
hold-looked into the eyre. 1t was
empty! The eagle was evidently
about to lay and was sheltering her
nest from the snowfall which must
have been the most severe in her ex-
perience. This explained the presence
of the cock bird in the vicinity, for
once the hen has commenced to brood
the cock is never found in the neigh
borhood of the eyrie.
It was interesting to note the hol-
low in the snow where the eagle had
been sitting. The snow was piled
deep on the edges of the nest, and the
hollow in the center seemed small in
deed for a bird as large as a Golden
Eagle.
The nesting season of the Golden
Eagle is exceptionally early
when the arctic weather obtaining In
their haunts in early spring is taken
into consideration. We have seen an
eagle carrying nesting material to her
eyrie as early as January q, and. if
the nesting site is at all sheltered.
the eggs are laid before March is out.
Incubation is lengthy matter, the
eagle sitting for close on six weeks
before the chicks are Matched out
the earliest date we have seen them
Is April 20. The altitude at which
the eagle nests varies considerably.
One nesting site that we know of is
barely $500 feet above sea-level.
while on the wild Cairngorm noun
tains an eyrie has been found at
height of between three and four
thousand feet. Amongst stalkers
great diversity of opinion exists as to
when the eagle nests, some holding
that it is late June before she COM
mences the duties o. incubation. This
misconception has arisen, we i'm
agine, from the fact that the eagles
are constantly carrying fresh material
to the eyre even when their young
are well grown. To one eyrie which
we have been in the habit Of visit
rig this season the eagles used to
bring small and leafy raspberry
shoots. which they scattered about the
eyris. We have also seen them carry
Juniper branches to their nest, and
hare found . red rubber ring and