Haliaetus leucocephalus.
PROWESS OF THE BALD EAGLE (Haliaetus leucocephalus).— Most of our recent authors have treated the Bald Eagle as a sluggish, fish-eating bird, whose entire stock of surplus energy is devoted to robbing a more industrious and less powerful neighbor. That it has not entirely lost its old-time daring, so graphically described by Audubon, the following account will show. I am indebted for my facts to Mr. Nathan Cobb, one of the oldest and most reliable of the professional Duck-shooters at Cobb's Island, Va. The species is a permanent resident in the neighborhood of the island, though it is not often seen during the summer months. A few, however, are said to breed upon the opposite main-land.
In the winter the Eagles are much more numerous than at any other time of the year, and my informant has, on several occasions, seen as many as eight at once. At this season the neighboring bays and creeks swarm with Wild-fowl, and upon these the Eagles principally live. He has never known them to capture fish of any kind, although they not unfrequently rob the Fish-Hawk. Geese and Brant form their favorite food, and the address displayed in their capture is very remarkable. The poor victim has apparently not the slightest chance for escape. The Eagle's flight, ordinarily slow and somewhat heavy, becomes, in the excitement of pursuit, exceedingly swift and graceful, and the fugitive is quickly overtaken. When close upon its quarry the Eagle suddenly sweeps beneath it, and, turning back downward, thrusts its powerful talons up into its breast. A Brant or Duck is carried off bodily to the nearest marsh or sand-bar, but a Canada Goose is too heavy to be thus easily disposed of. The two great birds fall together to the water beneath, where the Eagle literally tows his prize along the surface until the shore is reached. In this way one has been known to drag a large Goose for nearly half a mile.
A single bird is usually seized at the first attempt, but Mr. Cobb has seen an Eagle repeatedly miss his aim when in the midst of a large flock. The very abundance of opportunities seems to bewilder him, and he thrusts wildly and harmlessly in all directions; but after the crowding masses have become scattered by his onslaught, a separate individual is selected, and quickly overtaken and killed.
Although the larger and heavier Water-fowl are more likely to be attacked, the royal bird seems to find little difficulty in overhauling the swiftest flying Ducks. The latter, however, often escape by diving, although in shallow water this resource sometimes proves of no avail, as the Eagle follows their course, and seizes them as they rise near the surface. Under favorable conditions even Grebes are sometimes captured.
In winter shooting the sportsman loses many a wounded Goose or Brant by the Eagles. They seem fully aware of the advantages to be gained by maintaining a close espionage upon the gunner's movements, and a bird that falls at any considerable distance from the stand is often seized and borne away before it can be recovered. Universally hated as he is by all the gunners of this island, the Eagle is not unfrequently killed by them in the following curious manner. The “stools,” or decoys, which are relied upon to dupe the wary Water-fowl, sometimes deceive even the keen-eyed bird of prey, and in his eagerness to secure one of the apparently unsuspecting flock he stoops upon a wooden victim, and is riddled by a fatal discharge from the circle of sea-weed where the sportsman lies concealed. On several occasions, when the marauder's approach did not happen to be observed, Mr. Cobb has had a decoy lifted from the water and carried off several yards before the Eagle discovered his mistake.
In the course of my own experience I do not remember ever having seen a Bald Eagle capture, or even pursue, a bird of any kind. The most favorable opportunities for watching their habits have occurred in Maine, where, about some of the larger lakes, I have observed them fishing in the manner of the Osprey, and sometimes feeding upon dead and even putrid fish which had been cast up along the shores. During the past season a mortality occurred among the suckers in Lake Umbagog, and thousands were left upon the marshes and flats by the receding water. The Eagles assembled in such numbers that no less than twenty-five were counted in one day.— WILLIAM BREWSTER, Cambridge, Mass.
Bull. N.O.O. 5, Jan., 1880, p. 57-58.