THE SEA-EAGLES. 1 63 



toe. The nostrils are perpendicular ovals, the tail is slightly 

 rounded, and the bare tarsus is scaled in front and reticulated 

 behind. 



Members of the genus Halia'etus are found in the northern 

 portions of the New World, but are not known from Central 

 or South America. In the Old World they are found almost 

 everywhere, and one species, Halia'etus leucogaster, is an in- 

 habitant of the Malayan Archipelago, Australia, and even ex- 

 tends to some of the Oceanic Islands. 



I. THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 



Vultnr albicilla^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 123 (1766). 



Halia'etus albicilla^ Macg. Brit. B. iii. p. 221 (1840) ; Newt. ed. 



Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 25 (1871); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 



i. p. 303 (1874); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 551, pi. 348 



(1875); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 97 (1883); Seebohm, 



Br. B. i. p. 87 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 319 



(1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. parts xiii. xvi. (1890). 



{Plate XL VI.) 



Adult Male. — General colour above brown, with a tinge of 



sandy-colour on the neck and wing-coverts, many of the 



feathers being edged with pale brown or ashy-grey ; head and 



sides of face with a decided tinge of ashy-grey, the ear-coverts 



browner ; the median and greater wing-coverts glossy brown, 



with whity-brown margins ; quills black, with brown shafts, the 



primaries externally shaded with ashy, the secondaries like the 



back, but darker brown towards their tips ; lower back and rump 



dark brown ; long upper tail-coverts white, slightly varied with 



brown at the base and at the tips ; tail pure white ; under 



surface of body brown, the throat and chest whity-brown, 



with dark brown central streaks, some of the feathers shaded 



with ashy ; under wing-coverts and inner lining of quills dark 



brown, the latter inclining to ashy ; cere and bill yellow ; feet 



yellow, the claws black; iris straw-yellow. Total length, 33-5 



inches; culmen, 3*0; wing, 24-5; tail, ii'o; tarsus, 4-1. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but larger. Total length, 

 3S inches; culmen, 3*8; wing, 26-3; tail, i3"5 ; tarsus, 4*6. 



Young Birds.— The young are much darker than the adults, 

 and much more mottled, the head and neck being blackish- 

 brown, the Ion, 2; feathers slightly tipped with fulvous-brown, not 



M 2 



