WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 321 



account the price set on its eggs, for undoubtedly the collector 

 has assisted the destruction. 



The Earne or Sea-Eagle is more of a coast-haunting species 

 than the Golden Eagle ; its eyries are, or were, usually on 

 some precipitous sea cliff, its favourite perch a rocky, wave- 

 washed pinnacle. There it will sit, watching the water, as 

 grand a bird as the other, sometimes, Dixon says, sunning its 

 outstretched wings like a Cormorant. Its slow, flapping flight 

 and majestic aerial sailing resemble those of the Golden Eagle. 

 Thirty years ago, when it was more abundant, I saw one in the 

 Sound of Hoy, soaring at such a height that only when it 

 turned and the sun glinted on its white tail, could I be sure 

 of the species. Its yelping call, according to Macgillivray, is 

 shriller than that of the Golden Eagle. Both Eagles are fre- 

 quently mobbed by much weaker birds. The bold Peregrine 

 will stoop with such determination that the Eagle avoids the 

 onrush with a scream of alarm ; the Raven, often itself mobbed 

 by other birds, will follow and buffet it ; gulls and skuas chase 

 the Sea-Eagle, and Mr. Bond saw a Golden Eagle attacked by 

 Rock-Doves. Yet the Sea-Eagle will kill ducks and other 

 large birds, though fish forms a fair proportion of its food. It 

 has been stated that the bird plunges for fish like an Osprey, 

 but this is not its only method of catching them, for it has been 

 seen dropping on trout in the shallows. It will eat any 

 mammal or bird that it can capture and overcome, and it will 

 not refuse carrion. As is the case with all eagles, and indeed 

 with many raptorial birds, the young are great wanderers or 

 gipsy migrants. 



In the north the usual site for the nest is a large ledge on 

 a steep cliff or the summit of a crag or stack, but in central 

 Europe it is usually in a tree, and at times on the ground or in 

 a marsh. Sticks, heather, turf or any handy material are used,, 

 and a softer lining of grass or heather is added. The eggs, usually 

 two, are white, rough and without gloss, and are laid in April. 



Series I. Y 



