THE WHITE-TAILED (SEA) EAGLE 153 
prey to carrion, and easily secures Grouse, in searching for which 
it flies low on the moors, sailing and wheeling at intervals. Hares, 
roes, and even red deer, it also attacks, but it does not haunt the 
shores for fish so much as the Sea Eagle does. There seems very 
little probability that Eagles have the sense of smell very acute, 
but that their vision is so is evident. I am not, however, inclined 
to think that they perceive objects from the vast height to which they 
sometimes soar, because I never saw one descend from such an 
elevation in a manner indicating that it had observed a carcase or 
other eatable object; whereas, on the other hand, I have very 
frequently seen them flying along the sides of the hills, at a small 
height, obviously in search of food, in a manner somewhat resem- 
bling that of the Sparrow-Hawk, but with much less rapidity.’ 
The Golden Eagle breeds only in the Highlands, but it is not an 
unfrequent visitor to the Lowlands of Scotland in the cold season. 
Those birds which have been recorded as visiting England were 
generally not this species but the White-tailed or Sea Eagle in 
immature plumage. It prefers mountains or extensive forests, 
building its eyrie either on rocks or lofty trees. In France, Sweden, 
Spain, and Switzerland, it is frequently observed. Its note, called 
in the Highlands ‘a bark’, is sharp and loud, resembling at a dis- 
tance, as, on the only occasion J ever heard it, it seemed to me, the 
croak of a Raven. It lays two or sometimes three eggs, and feeds 
its young, which are very voracious, on birds and the smaller 
quadrupeds. 
THE WHITE-TAILED (SEA) EAGLE 
HALIAETUS ALBICILLA 
Tail not longer than the wings ; upper plumage brown, that of the head and 
neck lightest, lower, chocolate brown; tail white; beak, cere, and feet 
yellowish white ; claws black. In young birds the tail is dark brown, and 
the beak and cere are of a darker hue. Length of the male, two feet four 
inches ; of the female, two feet ten inches. Eggs dirty white with a few 
pale red marks. 
THE White-tailed Eagle, known also by the name of the Sea Eagle, 
is about equal in size to the Golden Eagle, but differs considerably 
in character and habits; for while the latter has been known to 
pounce on a pack of Grouse and carry off two or three from before 
the very eyes of the astonished sportsman and his dogs, or to 
appropriate for his own special picking a hunted hare when about 
to become the prey of the hounds, the White-tailed Eagle has been 
observed to fly terror-struck from a pair of Skua Gulls, making 
no return for their heavy buffets but a series of dastardly shrieks. 
The ordinary food, too, of the nobler bird is living animals, though, 
