262 BRITISH SEA) BIRDS: 
congenial a home on the sea-board as in the woods 
or fields, or even cities of the interior. 
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
Half a century ago this fine bird, the Halzaetus 
albicilla of ornithologists, was very generally dis- 
tributed round our northern coasts ; in earlier years 
than that it bred in certain parts of England, 
possibly on most of our highest headlands. Trap, 
gun, and poison have done their sad work only too 
well, and now the White-tailed Eagle is banished 
‘almost entirely from the land. The birds that 
still survive are mostly confined to the Hebrides, 
to the wild waste of islands and sea along the 
western seaboard of Scotland. Occasionally stray 
birds are noticed, during autumn and winter, on the 
coast of England, but these are almost invariably 
immature individuals on their migration south. 
The White-tailed Eagle almost exclusively fre- 
quents maritime districts, where it may be seen at 
a vast height soaring on never-tiring wing, or 
standing on some rock pinnacle. It preys upon 
every bird or animal that it is able to capture— 
newly-dropped lambs and fawns, hares, rabbits, 
grouse, and waterfowl. But its favourite fare, 
perhaps, is carrion — stranded fish and other 
garbage on the shore, dead sheep, and so on. 
This Eagle makes its eyrie on some stupendous 
ocean cliff, and, as the birds pair for life, the spot is 
occupied years in succession. The nest is a huge 
