SEA EAGLE. 45 



woods, had been long the residence of this family of Eagles. The tree 

 on which the nest was originally built had been for time immemorial, or 

 at least ever since he remembered, inhabited by these Eagles. Some of 

 his sons cut down this tree to procure the young, which were two in 

 number ; and the Eagles soon after commenced building another nest on 

 the very next adjoining tree, thus exhibiting a very particular attach- 

 ment to the spot. The Eagles, he says, make it a kind of home and 

 lodging place in all seasons. This man asserts, that the Gray, or Sea 

 Eagles, are the young of the Bald Eagle, and that they are several 

 years old before they begin to breed. It does not drive its young from 

 the nest like the Osprey, or Fish-Hawk ; but continues to feed them 

 long after they leave it. 



The bird from which the figure in the plate was drawn, and which is 

 reduced to one-third the size of life, measured three feet in length, and 

 upwards of seven feet in extent. The bill was formed exactly like that 

 of the Bald Eagle, but of a dusky brown color ; cere and legs bright 

 yellow ; the latter as in the Bald Eagle, feathered a little below the 

 knee ; irides a bright straw color ; head above, neck and back streaked 

 with light brown, deep brown and white, the plumage being white, tipped 

 and centred with brown ; scapulars brown ; lesser wing-coverts very 

 pale, intermixed with white ; primaries black, their shafts brownish 

 white ; rump pale brownish white ; tail rounded, somewhat longer than 

 the wings when shut, brown on the exterior vanes, the inner ones white, 

 sprinkled with dirty brown ; throat, breast and belly, white, dashed and 

 streaked with different tints of brown and pale yello'w ; vent brown, 

 tipped with white ; femorals dark brown, tipped with lighter ; auriculars 

 brown, forming a bar from below the eye backw^ards ; plumage of the 

 neck long, narrow and pointed, as is usual with the Eagles, and of a 

 brownish color tipped with white. 



The Sea Eagle is said by various authors to hunt at night as well as 

 during the day ; and that besides fish it feeds on chickens, birds, hares 

 and other animals. It is also said to catch fish during the night ; and 

 that the noise of its plunging into the water is heard at a great distance. 

 But in the descriptions of these writers this bird has been so frequently 

 confounded with the Osprey, as to leave little doubt that the habits and 

 manners of the one have been often attributed to both ; and others 

 added that are common to neither. 



Note — In Wilson's history of the Bald Eagle, he confidently asserts 

 that it is the same species as the Sea Eagle, in a different stage of color. 

 In his account of the latter, he adduces additional reasons for his belief, 

 which is at variance with the opinions of some of the most respectable 

 naturalists of Europe. We have no hesitation, from our own experience, 

 in pronouncing these birds to be the same ; and deem it unnecessary to 



