62 BIRDS OF PREY. 



ROYAL OR GOLDEN EAGLE. 



(Falcofulvus. Linn. Falco chrysadtos. Ibid. WiiTson, vii. p. 13. 

 pi. 55. fig. 1. [young] ). 



Spec. Charact. — Dark brown; cere and toes yellow ; tail much 

 rounded, extending beyond the folded wings ; nostrils elliptic ; 

 3 scales only upon the last joint of each toe; no white scapulary 

 feathers. — Young, of an uniform, ferruginous brown, and with 

 the feathers nearly all white towards the base ; tail white, with 

 a broad terminal brown and mottled band, and no bars. 



This ancient monarch of the birds is found in all the 

 cold and temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere, 

 taking up his abode by choice in the great forests and 

 plains, and in wild, desert, and mountainous regions. 

 His eyry, commonly formed of an extensive set of 

 layers of large sticks, is nearly horizontal, and occa- 

 sionally extended between some rock and adjoining tree, 

 as was the one described by Willughby in the Peak of 

 Derbyshire. About 30 miles inland from the Mandan 

 Fort on the Missouri, I once had occasion to observe the 

 eyry of this noble bird, which here consisted of but a 

 slender lining of sticks conveyed into a rocky chasm on 

 the face of a lofty hill rising out of the grassy, open plain. 

 It contained one young bird, nearly fledged, and almost of 

 the color of the Gyrfalcon. It appears they lay 2 and rare- 

 ly 3 eggs, of an impure white, blotched with red or red- 

 dish. Near their rocky nests they are seen usually in 

 pairs, at times majestically soaring to a vast height, and 

 gazing on the sun towards which they ascend until they 

 disappear from view. From this sublime elevation they 

 often select their devoted prey, sometimes a kid or a lamb 

 from the sporting flock, or the timid rabbit or hare 

 crouched in the furrow, or sheltered in some bush. The 

 largest birds are also frequently their victims ; and in 

 extreme want they will not refuse to join with the alarm- 



