262 



Richmond, Ornithological Writings of Rafinesque. 



TAuk 

 LJuly 



p. 63.] 



10. Ornithology. — Description of 

 a new Eagle from South America, 

 Aquila dieronyx or Macarran Eagle. 

 By C. S. R. 



Mr. Macarran of Philadelphia has 

 had for 5 years in his small menage- 

 rie and botanic garden, a beautiful 

 eagle, kept alive in a cage in the open 

 air during the coldest winters, being 

 a native of the cold climate of An- 

 tartic America. He was found by 

 the mate of a vessel near Buenos 

 Ayres, while yet young, feeding on 

 a dead horse, and taken alive with- 

 out much difficulty. He has grown 

 and improved in colors since bought 

 by Mr. Macarran. Although fierce 

 and wanting to fly against the boys 

 when they annoy him, he is very 

 tame and grateful towards his keep- 

 er: he knows him as well as friendly 

 visitors, and greets them by peculiar 

 postures, looks or cries. He has se- 

 veral kinds of cries rather harsh, to 

 express joy or anger. He feeds on 

 every kind of flesh, offals or even 

 fish and dead animals. He will kill 

 rats and eat them. He is a beautiful 

 noble bird, when he expands the 

 wings they fill his large cage. His 

 gait is clumsy and he oftener jumps 

 than walks. 



I have called him Aquila dieronyx 

 from the singularity of claws of two 



colors. 



Aq. dieronyx. spec. ch. Bill horny, 

 feet yellow, claws black, but the 

 middle claw horny or whitish; plu- 

 mage blackish, head greyish, tail 

 whitish, end of it rusty. 



Description. — Total length 3 feet, 

 wings expanded, 9 feet; bill large 

 strong 4 inches long, shaped as in 

 the eagles, of a horny or whitish-yel- 

 lowish color ; cere and lore brownish ; 

 eyes black and bright, iris yellow; 

 head greyish above and across the 

 eyes, nearly white beneath and above 

 the eyes; feathers nearly black with 

 a lead colored cast, white at their 

 base; wings slate colored beneath; 

 Uropygial feathers mixt of black 

 and grey. Tail with a rusty band 

 at the end. Feet yellow very strong, 

 feathers not quite to the toes. Claws 

 strong and black, that of the middle 

 toe same color as the bill. 



When younger this bird was en- 

 tirely of a bluish black, or dark lead 

 color, the head and tail have since 

 changed, but the rusty band of the 

 tail and claws were permanent and 

 are preeminent distinctions between 

 this eagle and the whitehead eagle. 



Mr. Audubon admired this eagle 

 and wanted to purchase him ; but Mr. 

 Macarran would not take less than 

 $100 for him. 



This appears to complete the list of Rafinesque's ornithological 

 writings. I have not, however, consulted his "Enumeration and 

 Account of some remarkable Natural Objects in the Cabinet of 

 Professor Rafinesque," 1 published in Philadelphia, in 1831. This 

 work, we learn from an advertisement on the back cover of his ' Life 

 of Travel,' was "sold to Zoologists and Orvctologists, for 25 cts." 



1 Dr. Allen has recently written me that there is no ornithological matter in this 

 work. 



