THE EAGLE-LIKE SUBFAMILY 1991 



parental indifference than to actual cowardice, as three of these birds, an adult 

 male caught in a trap, and a pair of young male and female taken from the nest 

 when three years old and raised by me, did not seem to be deficient in spirit by 

 any means, and were always ready to attack anything and everything on the 

 slightest provocation." In captivity the golden eagle is far more tractable than 

 the sea eagles, and in Central Asia, where it is known as the birkut, or karakush, 

 it is trained to kill mammals and large birds. Dr. Scully writes that the trained 

 bird " is always kept hooded when it is indoors, except when about to be fed, and 

 the method of carrying it in the chase is the following: The man who is to carry 

 the eagle is mounted on a pony and has his right hand and wrist protected by a 

 thick gauntlet. A crutch, consisting of a straight piece of stick carrying a curved 

 crosspiece of horn or wood the concavity being directed upward is attached to 

 the front of the saddle; the man grasps the crosspiece of the crutch with his gloved 

 hand, and the eagle then perches on his wrist." 



Although frequently mistaken in the later stages of its immature 

 ag e plumage for the preceding species, the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca) 

 is really very distinct, and may be easily recognized in the adult state by the more 

 or less conspicuous white patch on the scapulars. In size it is smaller than the 

 golden eagle, with less difference between the two sexes; the length of the female 

 of this species being the same as that of the male of the golden eagle (thirty-two 

 inches), while that of the male is but an inch less. The body is stoutly built, the 

 tail short, and the wings so long as to reach slightly beyond the extremity of the 

 former. In the adult bird the general color of the plumage is blackish brown, be- 

 coming lighter on the back and tail coverts; the head and neck are light fulvous; 

 the scapulars have the above-mentioned white patch, which is exclusively confined 

 to that series of feathers, and the tail is ashy gray, marked with indistinct dark bars 

 for the greater part of its extent, but its terminal portion blackish, with a narrow 

 fulvous border. The young bird is rather light brown above, with the feathers 

 tipped with buffish fawn, so as to give a spotted appearance to the plumage, and 

 some of the wing coverts have whitish ends; the plumage of the under surface 

 being tawny fulvous, with the breast feathers margined with brown, so as to look 

 as though streaked. The tail is uniform brown, tipped with buffish white. In 

 an intermediate stage the brown edgings of the breast feathers appear to extend to 

 their centres, so that the whole plumage becomes brown; and it is when in this 

 state that the bird is so often mistaken for the golden eagle. At all ages the 

 cere and feet are pale yellow, while the beak is bluish, and the iris brownish 

 yellow. The imperial eagle is mainly a southern form, occurring in South- 

 eastern and rarely Central Europe, whence it ranges through Palestine and 

 the adjacent countries to India and China. In Northern Africa it is replaced 

 by Adalbert's eagle (Aquila adalberti], which also occurs in Spain, and differs 

 by the white patch on the wing extending on to the carpal plumes. In the 

 neighborhood of India the imperial eagle regularly breeds in the Himalayas, but 

 the majority of the specimens seen in the plains of India are winter visitors al- 

 though a few remain to nest in the Upper Punjab. In Southern India the specie is 

 rare, although it is not uncommon in the high table-lands of the Peninsula. 



