EAGLES. 



283 



themselves, who have leanieJ that a large price can be obtained for its eggs, and so, 

 after robbing a nest once each season, allow a second set of eggs to be hatched and 

 the youn<' to be reared. Tlie American liird has usually been considered a variety of 

 the Old World species, and distinguished by the name canadensis. The only points, 

 however, in which the two forms differ, are the slightly larger size and darker plum- 

 age of the American bird, the latter point being most easily recognized in the young. 

 The adults range in length from two and one half to three feet, and the wings spread 

 from six to seven feet. 



Fia. 132. — BaliaUus cocifer, African Bca-eagle. 



The smallest member of the genus is the dwarf-e.agle, Aqiiiln pentiata, a native of 

 southern Europe, north Africa, and India, which measures only eighteen inches or two 

 feet in length. Other notable si)ecies are the king-eagle, A. Mhiai, of southeastern 

 Europe and Asia, equalling the golden in size, and supposed by many to be the 

 species once adopted as the emblem of the Koman eminre; the imi)erial eagle, 

 A. mogilnik, but slightly inferior to the last, and with about the same range; 

 A. vetreaitxi, of south Africa, and -1. {UrocaUis) audax, the bold or wedge-tailed 



