18 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST, 
The rapacious birds usually considered as British 
amount to thirty-three, and of these I can number nine- 
teen as having come under my notice as rangers or 
visitors in “ merrie Sherwood.” 
The first is the Golden eagle (Aquzla chrysaétos), I 
was aware of a reported visit of this noble bird, but as 
I had not seen it myself, and could not authenticate its 
occurrence, I determined to omit all mention of it. A 
recent letter, however, from Mr. Tillery of Welbeck, to 
The Field of January 27, confirms the report I had 
heard, and enables me to include it in my list. 
It was in the winter of 1838 that the bird appeared 
in Welbeck Park. Mr. Tillery says :— 
“The lake was frozen over at the time, except in one 
place, where a flush of warm water entered from a 
culvert which drained the abbey. The place was 
covered with ducks, teal, and widgeon, and I saw his 
majesty swoop down once or twice to get one for his 
breakfast, but unsuccessfully, as the ducks saved them- 
selves by diving or flying off. The park-keeper got two 
shots at him with ball on a tree, but missed him each 
time, and he gradually got wilder, so that he could never 
be approached again near euough for a shot. After 
levying b!ack mail on the young jambs, hares, and game 
in the neighbourhood, he took himself off after a three 
weeks’ sojourn.” 
I ain enabled, through the kind attention of a friend, 
to add two individuals of another species, and that one 
of rare general occurrence in England—viz., the White- 
tailed sea-eagle (Haliwétus albicilla) to my list. This 
eagle appears somewhat subject to a partial southern 
migration in the winter, and it has been usually at that 
season that it has been noticed in England. It is also 
