THE TRUE EAGLES. 



157 



ashy-brown below, the secondary quills ashy-grey, mottled with 

 brown, the terminal third of the feather blackish ; tail ashy-grey, 

 blackish at the tip and browner towards the base, the grey 

 forming an irregular band across the middle of the tail, the 

 basal portion of which is also mottled with grey ; head brown, 

 the nape and hind-neck rich tawny, the feathers lanceolate in 

 shape, with brown bases, and imparting a streaked appearance 

 to this part of the neck ; sides of the face light tawny, paler 

 than the neck ; cheeks and under surface of body blackish, the 

 feathers mostly brown at the base, and the feathers of the leg 

 pale brown, as also the under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts 

 blackish ; cere yellow ; bill bluish horn-colour, darker at the 

 tip; feet yellow, claws black; iris hazel. Total length, 32 

 inches; culmen, 2*6; wing, 24*5; tail, i3"o; tarsus, 37. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male in colour, but larger. 

 Total length, 35-5 inches; wing, 27*5; tail, 13*0; tarsus, 3-8, 



Young Birds. — These can always be distinguished by the 

 colour of the tail, which is white for more than the basal half, 

 and brown for nearly the terminal half, so that there is a very 

 broad band at the end of the tail ; otherwise the colour of the 

 young birds does not differ very much from that of the adults, 

 excepting that there is a good deal of white at the bases of the 

 feathers, especially on the under surface of the body, which is 

 rather lighter brown than in the old birds. 



Nestling. — Covered with white down. 



Range in Great Britain. — The breeding-range of the Golden 

 Eagle is now restricted to the highlands of Scotland and some 

 of the western isles, where the bird is protected. Formerly 

 it used to nest in the Orkneys, and also in the south of Scot- 

 land, while it has only been extinguished as a breeding bird in 

 the Lake district during the last hundred years, and two cen- 

 turies ago it nested in Wales and Derbyshire. Young birds 

 of the present species occur in the lowlands of Scotland not 

 unfrequently, and more rarely visit England, but the reported 

 captures of Golden Eagles generally refer to young White-tailed 

 Eagles, which may always be distinguished by their bare legs. 



In Ireland, Mr. R. J. Ussher says the chief breeding-places 

 of " the Golden Eagle are now a few spots in Western Mayo. 



