Genus HALIAETUS, Savignv. 



Gev. Char, Size large ; tarsi short; naked, or feathered for a short distance below the joint 

 of the tibiK and tarsui, and with the toes covered with scales ; toes rather long ; claws very strong, 

 curved, very sharp. Bill large, very strong, compressed ; margin of upper mandible slightly lobed ; 

 wings long, pointed ; tail moderate. General form very robust and powerful ; flight very rapid 

 and long continued. 



This genus contains some ten or eleven species only, inhabit- 

 ing various parts of the world. These all subsist more or less on 

 fishes, and hence are desi^mated Fishino- or Sea Eagles. One 

 only inhabits Canada. 



Haliaetus Leucocephalis, Savignv. 



BALD EAGLE; WH I TE - HE A D E D EAGLE. 

 PLATE XVIII. (Frontispiece.) 



There is no end to the accounts of strange Eagles given by 

 travellers and naturalists, and had this book been undertaken but 

 comparatively a few years ago, I should have been sorely puzzled 

 to have found specimens illustrative of the numerous supposed 

 species and varieties. We now, however, know that in Canada 

 and the United States there are but tiuo species of Eagles, namely, 

 the Golden Eagle and the White-headed or Bald Eagle, all others 

 being nothing more than immature individuals of both or either of 

 these species, or in some rare instances accidental varieties. 



The beautiful plate herewith presented of the Bald Eagle is 

 taken from one of the finest preserved specimens I have yet met 

 with in Canada, lent for this work by Dr. John Bell of Montreal. 

 It is a noble portrait, however, of a " mean " bird, and I regret 

 exceedingly that its misplaced title of " Bird of America " obliges 

 me to place it as a Frontispiece to the present work. Much 

 rather would I have chosen the intelligent and industrious Fish 

 Hawk or Osprey, upon whose hard earned booty the Bald Eagle 

 largely subsists. In making this statement I am not merely re- 



