ONTARIO 



Genus AQUILA Brisson, 



141. AQUILA CHRYSAETOS (Linn.). 349. 



Golden Eagle. 



Dark-brown with a purplish gloss ; lanceolate feathers of head and neck 

 golden-brown ; quills blackish ; in the young, tail white with a broad 

 terminal black zone. About 3 feet long ; wing, upwards of 2 feet ; tail a foot 

 or more. 



Hab. North America south to Mexico. Northern parts of the Old 

 World. 



Nest, an accumulation of sticks, usually placed on an inaccessible rocky 

 crag. 



Eggs, 2 to 4 ; soiled white marked with brown. 



This fierce and daring Eagle has its home among the rugged 

 and inaccessible cliffs of Canada east, but in the fall it is seen 

 following the flocks of waterfowl, which, at this season, visit the 

 lakes to rest and recruit themselves as they travel southward. 

 Some years ago I asked a boy, whose home I thought a 

 favorable point for getting birds of prey, to shoot any Hawks 

 or Owls he saw and bring them to me. A few days afterwards 

 I saw him approaching my house with a sack over his shoulder, 

 which, judging from the bulk, might contain a dozen hawks, 

 but great was my surprise when he shook out a fine large female 

 Golden Eagle which he had shot that morning as it flew over 

 the place where he happened to be standing. 



Shortly afterwards I got a young male which was caught 

 near Stoney Creek. I have also seen several which were 

 procured near Toronto. Dark-brown Eagles are often observed 

 hovering along the shores of Lake Ontario during the fall, but 

 at a distance it is impossible to distinguish between this and 

 the young of the Bald Eagle, which is also uniform brown 

 throughout. The quickest way of identifying the species, on close 

 inspection, is by referring to the legs, which, in the Golden Eagle, 

 are feathered down to the toes, differing as much in this respect 

 from the Bald Eagle as the Rough-legged Buzzard does from 

 any of the other Hawks. 



H5 



