38 



JEAN LE BLANC EAGLE. 



The curious bii-d which is called from its strange cry the Laughing Falcon, is a 

 native of Southern America, where it is found inhabiting the vicinity of marshes and 

 swamps, in which localities it finds the reptile food on which it chiefly subsists. It is also 

 a keen fisher, and haunts rivers and lakes for the sake of the finny prey whicli they 

 contain. The colour of this bird is nearly white, diversified with a broad band of brown 

 that passes over the back, wings, and the space round tlie eyes, and is prolonged into a belt 

 that surrounds the neck, so that the bird looks as if it had been wrapped in a brown 

 mantle fastened under the throat. The tail is banded alternately with brown and white. 

 The wings of this species are not veiy long, and the beak is short. The tarsus is also 

 short, and is covered in part with net-like markings. The head is surmounted with 

 a crest, composed of long, narrow feathers, which pass over the head and droop 



gracefully until they reach the 

 back of the neck. 



A SMALL number of the 

 Falconidse are remarkable for their 

 long tarsi, feathered below the 

 heel, their long, even tail, and the 

 union of the outer claws by a 

 membranous skin. The Jean 

 LE Blanc Eagle, so called on 

 accoimt of the generally wliite 

 coloixr of its phmiage, is a good 

 example of this genus, which in- 

 cludes the bacha, the cheela, and 

 other so-called Eagles. 



The colour of the Jean le 

 Blanc Eagle is white, speckled 

 with brown spots, and diversified 

 on the back with brown. The 

 white, however, predominates 

 largely, and even in the back and 

 wings, the bases of the feathers 

 are white. The tail is darker 

 than the rest of the plumage, 

 being of a light grey-brown, 

 barred with dark brown. The 

 long tarsi and toes are blue, and 

 the claws are black. The length 

 of the bird is about thirty inches, 

 but the expanse of its wings is 

 not so proportionally great as in 

 the osprey. As the birds of this 

 genus possess several characteris- 

 tics of the Eagles, and others of the 

 ospreys, they are supposed with 

 justice to form a connecting link 

 between the genera Aquila and 

 Pandion. The Jean le Blanc is 

 spread over considerable portions 

 of Asia and Europe, but has never 

 yet been discovered in England. 

 The food of this bird consists chiefly of snakes, frogs, rats, mice, and insects, and it is 

 generally found haunting the low forest lands where such creatures most abound. Its nest 

 is of considerable dimensions, and is generally built on the summit of some lofty tree. 

 The eggs are either two or three in number, and are of a pure, spotless grey. 



JEAN LE BLANC EAGLE.— Circailiis Gdlliais. 



