2. THE WHITE.TAILED OR SEA EAGLE 



lOLAiE BHREAC (Speckled Eagle), Iolair bhuidhe (Yellow Eagle), 



lOLUR-BHAIN, lOLAIR CHLADAICH (ShorO Eagle), lOLAIR MHARA, 



Iolair riabhach (Brindled Eagle), Iolair-suil-na-gri^inb (Gaelic) ; 

 Orn, Assa (Icelandic) ; Aiglb a Queue blanche (French) ; See- 

 ADLER, Meer-adler (German). 



So lately as 1883 no less an authority than Seebohm put 

 it on record that the White-tailed Eagle was a far more 

 common bird than the Golden Eagle in the British Isles. 

 Even though the statement was not too correct, it gives, 

 I think, a fair idea of the rapid decrease of the Sea Eagle 

 within our confines during recent years, for in 1914, when 

 this chapter is being written, there are at most only two 

 pairs of these birds nesting in Britain. As is the case 

 with the Osprey, the Erne — as the Sea Eagle was formerly 

 called — is on the point of extinction. The cause of its 

 rapid decrease may be set down to its partiality for lambs, 

 for it is not, like the Osprey, a migrant in the true sense 

 of the word, and has no dangers to run during the migra- 

 tion north and south like the Fish Hawk. I believe that 

 if its nesting sites had been more remote and inaccessible, 

 as those of the Golden Eagle, it would have held its own. 

 Unlike the latter bird, however, its eyries have been 

 situated almost entirely along the coast-line — on the west 

 of Scotland, where sheep-farming is largely practised — and 

 its fondness for lambs has resulted in traps being laid for 

 it in various ways by irate shepherds and sheep farmers. 



An instance may be quoted as showing the merciless 

 destruction of the Ernes. The hen bird was shot near 

 the nest, but the male eagle succeeded in procuring another 

 mate. Soon he himself shared the fate of his fu'st 



