GOLDEN EAGLE. ]03 



Slimes a richer tint. It had been considered incon- 

 sistent with analogy that the tail of the Sea-Eagle from 

 being brown should become white, while that of the 

 Golden Eagle from being white should become brown ; 

 but the change, in both cases, proceeds precisely on the 

 same principle, namely, the gradual diminution of the 

 white base of the plumage. After this change has 

 been effected, the tail of the Sea-Eagle gradually be- 

 comes white from the tip rootwards, or rather from the 

 middle towards the ends, and the head becomes paler, 

 while the tail of the Golden Eagle remains without 

 much perceptible change, although the head and some 

 other parts become brighter. 



It would be injudicious to obscure a subject already 

 sufficiently clear, by describing individuals at different 

 ages; for although the younger birds were formerly con- 

 sidered as of a distinct species, which was named the 

 Ring-tailed Eagle, it has been satisfactorily proved by 

 observation, that the ringed gradually merges into the 

 banded, and ultimately into the uniform or obscurely 

 variegated brown tail. The question has been settled 

 for ever ; but, with me at least, another remains, which 

 is this. I have seen so many eagles in the Outer He- 

 brides of very small size, although similar in colour, or 

 nearly so, to the Golden Eagle, that I suspect another 

 distinct species to exist there, which at an early age 

 has not the tail marked with a white band. The truth 

 of this conjecture, however, can be determined only by 

 observation ; and, whether for this particular purpose, 

 or for that of examining eagles generally, no part of 

 Britain is so well adapted as the islands of Harris and 

 Lewis, where these birds, notwithstanding the unceasing 



