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Volume VIII January-l?ebruary 1906 l?umber I The Golden Eagle BY XVILLIAM L, FINLEY WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY HERMAN T. BOHLMAN HE Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) was formerly found east of the Missis- sippi, as well as xvest, but it does not now frequent the more settled portions of the country. An isolated pair may still live in the wildest regions of New England or northern New York, or a few may still have their homes in the mountains of the two Virginias, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia or the Carolinas. The bird is not now common anywhere, but is yet found in small numbers in the mountainous regions of the West, especially in portions of California. In the Rocky Mountains the golden eagle often builds its nest on inaccessible cliffs, but in California and Oregon its favorite nesting sites are the pines, oaks and sycamores of the deep canyons or rugged slopes. We hunted for several years for the aerie of a golden eagle before we found one in a position where we could use our cameras to get a good series of photo- graphs. With the help of Mr. Charles R. Keyes we were finally successful in our search. On the morning of March 25, r9o4, we boarded a south-bound train from San Francisco and landed in a fertile, hilly district. With our cameras strapped to our backs, we wheeled rapidly over the first few miles of road, but we soon had to pile our bicycles in the brush and push on a-foot. As we ascended out of the cultivated district the road came to an end and we had tofollow cow trails. Further up we reached the highest shoulder of the range and found the surface rocky and broken. There was scarcely any vegetation on the ridge beside a scraggly growth of poison oak and chaparral. We stood and gazed at the wide stretch of valley. Far below, and reaching inland from the lower end of San Francisco bay, the rib-