58 A BOOK OF BIRDS 



Britain than formerly, when it bred in Wales, the Isle of Man, and 

 the Lake District of England, and in many parts of Scotland. To-day, 

 a few pairs still breed in the western and northern islands of Scotland, 

 and occasionally on the west coast of Ireland. 



Very old birds have the head and neck almost white, but the 

 white tail is not acquired till the bird is several years old. 



Most of the reports of Golden Eagles killed in England turn out, 

 on examination, to be White-tailed Eagles. They may easily be 

 distinguished, for while in the Golden Eagle the legs are feathered 

 down to the toes, in the Sea-Eagle the part known as the " tarsus " — 

 which is feathered in the Golden Eagle — is covered with small yellow 

 scales. 



There can be no justification for the insensate persecution which 

 has been meted out to this bird in Great Britain, for it lives for the 

 most part on fish and offal cast up by the sea, and occasionally on 

 hares and rabbits ; when pressed by hunger it has even been known 

 to attack lambs. 



In North America, and as far south as Mexico, the place of this 

 bird is taken by the '* Bald Eagle," which differs from the British 

 bird just described in having a pure white head and neck. 



We come now to the Osprey (Plate VIII. fig. i). This bird was 

 at one time regarded as a connecting-link between the true Hawks 

 and Eagles, and the Owls. And this because, as in the Owls, the hind- 

 toe is reversible ; that is to say, it can be turned either outwards or 

 backwards. But this character is now known to be quite misleading ; 

 the Owls have no sort of relationship to the true Hawk tribe. 



The Osprey lives entirely on fish, which it captures by a sudden 

 dive from a height, sending up a shower of spray as it plunges into 

 the water to seize its victim. Occasionally it will set its talons into 

 a fish too large to be lifted out of the water, in which case death from 

 drowning speedily follows. In order to hold such slippery prey the 

 more easily, the soles of the feet are provided with numerous rough 

 spines. 



Though the Osprey once bred in different parts of England and 

 in many places in Scotland, it does so now only in the Highlands, and 

 even here it is rare. It seems never to have bred in Ireland. In the 

 very near future this beautiful bird will probably be exterminated 



