The bald eagle has made such a striking comeback that the Clinton administration will propose around the Fourth of July that the national symbol be removed from the endangered species list. The eagle population in the U.S. is thought to have once numbered between 250,000 and 500,000, but by 1963, largely because of the pesticide DDT, scientists found only 417 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states. Now wildlife officials have counted 5,748 breeding pairs, and they expect more are out there.
