Abstract
WHILST staying a few days at Manhattan, a little town in Kansas, I spent some hours in the office of a dentist, Dr. C. Blackley, who is also an ornithologist, having stuffed a goodly number of the birds of the state. He was then occupied with a fine specimen of the common pelican (Pelicanus communis) one of a flock of over a thousand that passed over the town in the month of April, some of them alighting in the neighbouring marshes. These birds are not unfrequent visitors to these far inland regions, and I have known them shot and brought to me from the alkali lakes in Colorado, both regions from 600 to 800 miles from the sea. The doctor told me an amusing incident of a day's wild goose shooting in the vicinity. He took with him to one of the ponds frequented by wild geese, a stuffed specimen of the Canada goose, to act as a decoy. Having firmly planted his bird in the sand with its wooden platform well covered over, he lay behind the bushes awaiting a shot. Suddenly there was a rush of wings, and like a flash of lightning a golden eagle swept down on the decoy, knocking the bird over, and tearing out some of the stuffing. The eagle then sat down near his prey, staring with amazement at its remarkably quiescent character, as well as at the strange wooden appendage attached to its claws. Deeming there was something uncanny about such a goose, and there might be danger in the neighbourhood, he prudently flew away. Unfortunately a branch of a tree prevented the sportsman from shooting the marauder.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LAKIS, A. A Golden Eagle and a Decoy—Audacity of a Hawk. Nature 20, 122 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/020122b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/020122b0
This article is cited by
-
Conwy Lloyd Morgan, Methodology, and the Origins of Comparative Psychology
Journal of the History of Biology (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.