328 GOLDEN EAGLE. 



at best, a rare visitor in the cold season. Its present breeding- 

 places are confined to the Highlands and to the islands off the 

 western coast, where, owing to the protection afforded by many of 

 the proprietors of deer-forests, its numbers have, to some extent, 

 recovered from the destructiveness of grouse-preservers. It no 

 longer, however, nests in the Orkneys, and has never been known 

 to do so in the Shetlands. In Ireland a few pairs remain in the 

 north and west, but their years are numbered. 



The Golden Eagle inhabits the mountains as well as some of the 

 forests of Europe, from Lapland to the Mediterranean ; North 

 Africa; Asia, as far east as the Amur and Southern Japan, and south- 

 ward to the Himalayas ; and also America north of lat. 35°; but it is 

 unknown in Iceland or Greenland. Over this vast area considerable 

 variations in size and plumage are observed : — examples from 

 Western Europe being darker than those from the Central and 

 Southern portion ; while adults as well as young from the eastern 

 half of Russia have a great deal of white at the base of the tail. 

 The maximum of size appears to be attained in the lofty ranges of 

 Central Asia and the Himalayas, but some American birds are 

 very large. Four distinct species — one of which is divided into five 

 varieties — are recognised by some Russian naturalists ! 



The nest — placed on the ledge of a crag in mountainous regions, 

 but often in a tree, and occasionally on the ground — is usually a large 

 platform of sticks, lined with softer materials and the fresh tufts of 

 Liizula sylvatica. The eggs, laid early in April, are 2 and some- 

 times 3 in number, while an exceptional instance of 4 was recorded 

 by the late Sir J. ^^^ P. Campbell-Orde. Some are dull greyish- 

 white or mottled-buff; others are streaked, blotched, or even richly 

 suffused with shades of reddish brown and lilac ; and at times only 

 one white egg will be found in the nest: measurements 2*9 by 

 2'3 in. In Scotland the "Black Eagle," as it is called (and some 

 equivalent of that name prevails wherever the bird is known), feeds 

 to a great extent upon mountain-hares, while on the Continent it 

 eats marmots and similar animals ; it also takes grouse and other 

 birds, lambs, occasionally fawns and the ' calves ' of red deer, and, 

 when pressed by hunger, it does not refuse carrion. Its note is a 

 shrill squeal, ending in an abrupt bark. 



The general colour is dark brown, tawny on the nape ; the tail is 

 mottled with dark grey in the adults, but the basal half is white in 

 the young, which have also white bases to their body-feathers ; 

 thighs dark brown ; legs feathered to the toes. Length 32-36 in. ; 

 wing 24-27 in. ; the female being decidedly larger than the male. 



