53° 



WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 



The White-tailed Eagle is now only a visitor to the Faeroes ; but 

 it is a resident in Iceland, and also in the south of Greenland, 

 visiting the northern districts of the latter in summer. In North 

 America it is represented by the Bald Eagle, II. leucocephalus, a 

 species with a pure white head and neck, which has erroneously 

 been stated to occur in Iceland, Scandinavia, and even in Ireland ! 

 Our White-tailed Eagle occurs on Novaya Zemlya (Pearson), and 

 inhabits the neighbourhood of salt or fresh water in Scandinavia, 

 Denmark, Northern Germany, Russia, the valley of the Danube, 

 and Turkey ; visiting the rest of Europe, the Canaries, and 

 Northern Africa ; it even breeds in the reed-beds of Lake Menzaleh 

 in Lower Egypt ; while eastward we trace it across Asia to Kam- 

 chatka, Manchuria, and China down to 28^ N. in summer; and in 

 winter to Japan and India. Though it wanders to the Commander 

 Islands, the representative species in the long chain of the Aleutian 

 Islands appears to be the American Bald Eagle. 



The nest, similar to that of the Golden Eagle, is often placed on a 

 sea-cliff, but sometimes on an inland rock ; frequently in a tree or 

 wide-spreading bush on some small island in a loch; occasionally on 

 the ground. When built in swamps, as in Lower Egypt, it resembles 

 a gigantic nest of the Marsh-Harrier, being raised to a considerable 

 height above the deep surrounding mud. The eggs, usually 2 in 

 number, dull white in colour, and measuring about 2*85 by 2 "2 in., 

 are laid in Scotland in April ; but as early as February in the south- 

 east of Europe, and by December or January in Egypt. Few kinds 

 of fish, flesh, fowl or carrion come amiss to this species. The cry 

 is a loud yelp. 



Very old birds have the head and neck nearly white streaked with 

 ash-brown ; mantle brown ; primaries nearly black; tail wedge-shaped, 

 and white in colour ; under parts dark brown ; beak, cere, irides, legs 

 and feet yellow. Length : male 33 in., wing 24 in. ; female 36 in., wing 

 26 in. The young bird is dark brown, mottled with fulvous on the 

 mantle and wings ; tail dark brown ; beak black ; cere and irides 

 pale brown. The full plumage is not attained till the fifth or sixth 

 year. Varieties of a uniform bluish-grey, yellowish-grey, and silvery- 

 white are on record. 



In the White-tailed Eagle the lower part of the tarsus is bare of 

 feathers, while the whole length of each toe is covered with broad 

 scales. In the foot of the Golden Eagle the tarsus is clothed with 

 feathers to the base of the toes, each of these being covered with 

 small reticulations as far as the last joint, beyond which there are 

 three broad scales. 



