654 



;:iYST±:MA TIC SYNOPSIS. — liAFTOEES— A CCIPITRES. 



533 A. chrysae'tus. {Gr. xpvo'aeros, chrusaetos, golden Oi\g\o. Fig. 383.) Golden Eagle. Ring- 

 TAiLiDU EACLE. Adult ^ 9 : Dark brown, with a purplish gloss, lighter on the coverts of the 

 wings and tail and on the Hags or tarsi; the cowl of lanceolate feathers golden-brown. Quills' 

 and tail-feathers blackish, but basally more or less variegated or areated with light brown, gray, 

 or whitish ; at maturity these markings becoming extensive and definite. Young birds are 

 blacker than the adults, which " grow gray" with age, and are " ring-tailed," that is, the basal 



portion and finally 

 most of the tail is 

 white, offset by a 

 broad black termi- 

 nal zone. Length 

 about 3 feet; extent 

 feet or more : wing 

 ■I feet (J") or more 

 (9); tail 14.00- 

 15.00 inches (c?) 

 or more (9); Wll, 

 without cere, 1.50- 

 1.75; tarsus 3.50- 

 4.00. This groat 

 bird inhabits N. Aii'. 

 at large, as well as 

 Europe, Asia, etc.; 

 in this country rather 

 northerly, S. ordina- 

 rily to about 35°. 

 The American is not 

 fairly to be distin- 

 guished from the 

 European, but on 

 the whole is a larger 

 and " better" bird, 

 like several others 

 of the present fam- 

 ily, as well as of 

 the goose and duck 



Fig. 383. — The Eyrie of the Golden Eagle. (Designed by H. W. Elliott.) tribes. This I sup- 



pose to be owing to the fact that there is more room for them, more food, less persecution, and 

 altogether less competition in the struggle for existence. It breeds chiefly in mountainous or 

 boreal regions, the eyrie being usually upon a crag, the nest an enormous platform of sticks, 

 etc. The eggs are subspherical and equal-ended; four selected spechnens measure: 2.65 X 

 2.15 ; 2.90x2.40 ; 3.00x2.35 ; 3.10X2.25 ; in 12 cases, only one is white like a bald eagle's; 

 the rest are whitish, wholly indeterminately spotted, splashed and smirched with rich sienna, 

 umber and bistre browns, with neutral-tint shell-markings ; 2, 3, or 4 are laid. 

 187. HALIAE'TUS. (Gr. dXtaeros-, ZmZiaeto.'?, a sea-eagle; i. e., the osprey.) Sea Eagles. Fish- 

 ing Eagles. General chars, of Aquila, as above, but the tarsi only feathered about half-way 

 down, and no webbing between outer and middle toes. This nakedness of the shank is an in- 

 fallible character : among the several different kinds of eagles popularly attributed to North 

 America, only ttvo have been found on the continent ; the one with the feathered shank is No. 

 532 ; the one with scaly shank is No. 534, whatever its size or color. The scutellation of the 



