174 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



him. It is the present custom to vilify the eagle, to 

 speak of him as though he were an opponent at an 

 election, to dub him a cowardly carrion feeder, little if 

 anything better than a common vulture. Let us, there- 

 fore, give the poor out-at-elbows bird an innings to-day 

 and see what we can do for him. 



But how are we to recognise him when we see him ? 

 This is indeed a problem. There is a feature by which 

 the true eagles may be distinguished from all other 

 birds of prey, namely, the feathered tarsus. The true 

 eagles alone among the raptores decline to go about 

 with bare legs ; their " understandings " are feathered 

 right down to the toe. Thus may they be recognised. 



This method of identification is on a par with that of 

 catching a bird by placing a small quantity of salt 

 upon its tail. Eagles show no readiness to come and 

 have their legs inspected. There is, I fear, no feature 

 whereby the tyro can distinguish an eagle as it soars 

 overhead high in the heavens. Nothing save years of 

 patient observation can enable the naturalist to identify 

 any particular bird of prey at sight. Colour is, alas ! 

 no guide. The raptores are continually changing their 

 plumage. It were as easy to identify a woman by the 

 colour of her frock as a bird of prey by the hues of 

 its plumage. We read of one eagle that it is tawny 

 rufous, of another that it is rufous tawny, of a third 

 that it is tawny buff. The surest method of dis- 

 tinguishing the various birds of prey is by their flight ; 

 but is it possible to describe the peculiar flap of the 

 wings of one eagle, and the particular angle at which 

 another carries its pinions as it sails along? The length 



