HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Order I. ACCIPITRES 

 Fam. FALCONIDiE 



GOLDEN EAGLE. Aquila chrysaetus (Linnseus). PI. 1, 

 figs. 1, la. Length, ^ 32 in., $ 35-5. in.; wing, ^ 

 24-5 in., $ 27-5 in. ; tarsus, ^ 3-7 in., $ 3-8 in. 



Now resident only in the Highlands and islands 

 of Scotland, and Ireland ; though formerly nesting 

 in Orkney, the Lowlands of Scotland, the moun- 

 tainous parts of Cumberland and Westmorland, 

 the highest part of Cheviot, the Peak of Derby- 

 shire, and in North Wales. As to the former 

 existence of Eagles in Cumberland and Westmor- 

 land, see a very full and interesting account in 

 Macpherson's "Fauna of Lakeland," 1892, p. 186. 

 As a wanderer, the Golden Eagle is occasionally 

 met with in England during the autumn months, 

 but has not been known to breed south of the 

 Forth and Clyde for the last sixty or seventy years. 

 As to its present status in Scotland, it is satisfac- 

 tory to know that in many deer-forests orders have 

 of late years been given for its protection, and the 

 fears which ten years ago were entertained for its 

 extermination are now happily removed. 



