ECENTLY I have been told a number of experiences that have been.had
by several old time residents of this country with Golden Eagles (Aquila
chrysaetos). Mr. John Hand reports the killing of a four-point white-
tail deer during a very heavy fall of' snow in January of this year. This took
place near the summit of the Chiricahua Mountains. The deer had been
pounced upon by one or more eagles as it floundered in the deep snow, and
its back was fearfully lacerated by the talons. After it had succumbed, the
carcass was dragged down-hill over one hundred yards until it lodged against
a large boulder. Three eagles were feeding on it when first discovered by
some prospector. A day or two later Mr. Hand approached closely and fired
a charge of fine ;hot at one of the birds but failed to disable it. At this time
the carcass had begun to show taint. Traps were set and one eagle, well aged
as its color showed, was caught. Small pellets of shot embedded in it showed
it was the one lg.r. Hand had shot at. The other two eagles were keen enough
to keep out of the traps and too shy to be approached within gunshot.
In 1889, Mr. Hand came upon an eagle feeding on a calf it was supposed
to have killed. He ran after it as it attempted to fly off and knocked it down
with the barrel of his gun. It had gorged so heavily it could not rise over
three feet from the ground, there being n6 wind to assist its taking flight.
This was apparently a young bird and was sent alive to Tucson and later to
Los Angeles, where it is now supposed to be in one of the parks. The meat
of the calf was well on the road to decay:
Mr. Win. Lutley had a somewhat similar experience. The eagle rose from
the carcass it was feeding upon, flapping laboriously to get under way. Mr.
Lutley galloped his horse up close to it and shot at it with his six-shooter, a
.45 Colt, when it plunged to the ground and turned on its back to defend
itself. He captured it with difficulty, and tied it on behind his saddle. Glanc-
ing around later, as he rode toward home, he found the skirt of the saddle
was swarming with lice. He immediately dispatched the bird and threw it
onto the ground. He cut off the wings, head and feet, and also examined the
body to see where he had hit it when he shot. To his surprise he could find
no sign of a wound. He believes it was frightened by being overtaken by his
horse and the noise of his shot, and purposely dropped to the ground to get
into its customary position of defence. On this occasion, also, there was no
wind to assist the bird in taking flight.
Recently two cowboys in the employ of Mr. Lutley came upon three
eagles feeding upon the body of a calf about seven months old. The birds
were very sluggish and allowed the cowboys to approach close enough to kill
one with a six-shooter. The other two flew away and at last report had not
been seen again in that vicinity which was twelve miles or more from the near-
est available nesting site. This carcass, too, had begun to decay. Traps were
set, but were not sprung at any time. Coyotes had made tracks all around,
but the sight and smell of the traps kept these wary animals away. The back
of this calf gave every evidence that it had been killed by the eagles. Evi-
dently Golden Eagles do some damage to live stock. Also the above incidents
show that the Golden Eagle will, on occasion, eat carrion.
It isn't out of the way to mention here that a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus
leucocephalus) was seen on numerous occasions perched upon or flying among
the topmost pinnacles of the Chiricahua Mountains during the open season for
deer last fall. It was very shy and would not permit any close approach. It
was supposed to have fed upon wounded deer, or offal from such as were
killed by hunters.
Tombstone Arizona April 5, 1916.