212 HALI^TUS LEUCOCEPHALUS — BALD EAGLE. 



Arctic Circle. H. Alhicilla inhabits Greenland, but 

 Oassin doubts if it is identical with the European bird of 

 that name. 



1. Hali^tus Leucocephalus, LinnoBus. — White Headed or 

 Bald Eagle, 



Wilson's Amer- Orn., IV., pi. 36; Audubon's B. of Am,, 

 Oct. ed., I., pi, 14. 



This Eagle was of more frequent occurrence during the 

 early settlement of Ohio, than at the present day. Yet at 

 this time they are not rare, as scarcely a season passes 

 during which several are not killed on the Lake shore. 

 In the last five years we have seen three or four specimens 

 that were obtained in the neighborhood of Cleveland. 

 None of our eagles have so wide a range as this. It has 

 been found from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, and 

 from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of Hudson's Bay, 



The Bald Eagle is remarkable for its great strength and 

 daring. It provides well for its young, and has a life-long 

 attachment for its mate. The nest is always built in the 

 forks of some tall tree, and the chosen locality is seldom 

 deserted during the life of the pair. Year after year this 

 spot is their home, and in this first nest they raise their 

 young. They breed very early, laying two or three eggs 

 of a dull white color, and rounded alike at both ends. 

 These hatch in about three weeks, and the young are 

 covered with a soft cottony down. When fully fledged, 

 the young have not the peculiar markings of the adult 

 bird, and it is not until they are from three to five years of 

 age that the feathers of the head and tail become white. 

 When in the immature state the bird is commonly known 

 as the Grey or Brown Eagle, from the uniform cilor oi the 

 plumage. The young breed the first year after the y leave 

 the nest, and it often occur- that an adult bird is mated to 



