40 WHITE-HEADED EAGLE. 



mouth flesh colored, tip of the tongue bluish black ; the head, chief part 

 of the neck, vent, tail-coverts and tail, are white in the perfect or old 

 birds of both sexes, in those under three years of age these parts are of 

 a gray brown ; the rest of the plumage is deep dark brown, each feather 

 tipped with pale brown, lightest on the shoulder of the wing, and darkest 

 towards its extremities; the conformation of the wing is admirably 

 adapted for the support of so large a bird ; it measures two feet in 

 breadth on the greater quills, and sixteen inches on the lesser ; the 

 longest primaries are twenty inches in length, and upwards of one inch 

 in circumference where they enter the skin ; the broadest secondaries 

 are three inches in breadth across the vane ; the scapulars are very large 

 and broad, spreading from the back to the wing, to prevent the air from 

 passing through ; another range of broad flat feathers, from three to ten 

 inches in length, also extends from the lower part of the breast to the 

 wing below, for the same purpose ; between these lies a deep triangular 

 cavity ; the thighs are remarkably thick, strong, and muscular, covered 

 with long feathers pointing backwards, usually called the femoral 

 feathers ; the legs, which are covered half way below the knee, before, 

 with dark brown downy feathers, are of a rich yellow, the color of ripe 

 Indian corn ; feet the same ; claws blue black, very large and strong, 

 particularly the inner one, which is considerably the largest, soles very 

 rough and warty ; the eye is sunk under a bony or cartilaginous projec- 

 tion, of a pale yellow color, and is turned considerably forwards, not 

 standing parallel with the cheeks, the iris is of a bright straw color, 

 pupil black. 



The male is generally two or three inches shorter than the female ; 

 the white on the head, neck and tail, being more tinged with yellowish, 

 and its whole appearance less formidable ; the brown plumage is also 

 lighter, and the bird itself less daring than the female, a circumstance 

 common to almost all birds of prey. 



The bird from which the foregoing drawing and description were 

 taken, was shot near Great Egg Harbor, in the month of January last, 

 was in excellent order, and weighed about eleven pounds. Dr. Samuel 

 B. Smith, of this city, obliged me with a minute and careful dissection 

 of it ; from whose copious and very interesting notes on the subject, I 

 shall extract such remarks as are suited to the general reader. 



" The Eagle you sent me for dissection was a beautiful female. It 

 had two expansions of the gullet. The first principally composed of 

 longitudinal bundles of fibre, in which (as the bird is ravenous and Avith- 

 out teeth) large portions of unmasticated meats are sufi"ered to dissolve 

 before they pass to the lower or proper stomach, which is membranous. 

 I did not receive the bird time enough to ascertain whether any chylifi- 

 cation was efi'ected by the juices from the vessels of this enlargement of 

 the oesophagus. I think it probable that it also has a regurgitating oi 



