FALCON I D^. 



329 



THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 



Haliaetus albicilla (Linnaeus). 



Immature examples of this species — also called Erne, Cinereous or 

 Sea-Eagle — are not unfrequently observed in the maritime counties 

 of England in autumn and winter, at the time v.-hen the birds reared 

 in the northern parts of Europe are on their migration southward, 

 but adults are of very rare occurrence. Within the last hundred 

 years the White-tailed Eagle bred in the Isle of Man and the Lake 

 district ; in comparatively recent times in Galloway, Dumfriesshire, 

 and other places on the south-western mainland of Scotland, and not 

 long ago in Argyll ; but now its eyries are confined to some of the 

 western and northern islands. In Ireland, where it was formerly 

 more numerous than the Golden Eagle, its propensities for carrion 

 have led to its destruction by poison, and only on the west coast 

 can a pair or two be found. 



