709 



FALCONlDyE. 



FALCONID.E. 



710 



Old Male. Head very large ; below the eyes a space clothed with 

 white down ; summit of the head, cheeks, throat, breast, and belly, 

 white, but variegated with a few spots of bright brown ; back and 

 coverts of the wings brown, but the origin of all the feathers of a 

 pure white ; tail square, gray-brown, barred with deeper brown, white 

 below ; tarsi long and grayish-blue, as are the toes ; beak black ; cere 

 bluish ; iris yellow. Length, two feet. 



Female. Less white than the male. The head, the neck, the breast, 

 and the belly, are marked with numerous brown spots, which are 

 very much approximated. 



Young. Upper parts darker, but the origin of the feathers pure 

 white ; throat, breast, and belly, of a red-brown, little or not at all 

 spotted with white ; bands on the tail nearly imperceptible ; beak 

 bluish ; feet grayish-white. 



It feeds on lizards and serpents, to which it gives the preference ; 

 rarely birds and domestic poultry. The nest is built on the highest 

 trees, and the eggs are two or three in number, of a lustrous gray, 

 and spotless. 



It inhabits the great fir forests of the eastern parts of the north of 

 Europe ; not common in Germany and Switzerland ; rare in France ; 

 never seen in Holland. (Temminck.) Prince C. L. Bonaparte notes 

 it as rather rare near Rome. Colonel Sykes notes it among the birds 

 of the Dukhun (Deccan). 



with Circttetus thoracinus of Cuvier. 



Mr. Vigors next proceeds to the True Eagles. 



Aquila (of Authors). Beak sub-angular above; nostrils rounded ; 

 cere sub-hispid ; tarsi plumed to the toes. 



Mr. Vigors' observes that the predominant mark of distinction in 

 this genus is the tarsi being feathered to the toes. The culmen of 

 the bill appears also to differ from that of the other Eagles in being 

 more angular. The species A quila, heliaca of Savigny, Falco chrytaetos, 

 and Falco nmiut of Linnaeus, Falco bellicous of Daudin, with some 

 others lately made known to us, belong to the group which contains 

 the most powerful birds of the family. 



A. chrytaetoi, the Golden Eagle; Adlcr of the Germans; Eryr 

 Melyn of the Welsh, 



I.r<* and loot of Golden Eagle (Afjitila 



Old Birds. Summit of the head and nape with acuminated 

 Fathers of a lively and golden-red ; all the other parts of the body 

 obscure brown, more or less blackish, according to the age of the 

 individual ; inside of the thighs and feathers of the tarsus clear 

 brown ; never any white feathers among the scapulars ; tail deep gray, 

 barred with tolerable regularity with blackish-brown, and terminated 

 at "the end by a large band of that colour; beak horn-colour; iris 

 always brown ; cere and feet yellow. In this state Temminck con- 

 siders it to be the Ar/uila fulva of Meyer ; Falco niyer of Gmelin ; 



i Kagli 

 Aquila Hapace, ' Stor. deg. Ucc.' 



Young Birds of oue and two year?. (Ring-Tail Eagle.) All the 

 plumage of a ferruginous or clear reddish-brown, uniform on all parts 

 of the body ; lower tail-coverts whitish ; inside of the thighs and 

 feathers of the tarsus of a pure white ; tail quite white from the base 

 to three-fourths of its length, but afterwards brown to the end ; 

 internal barbs of tho quills and of the caudal feathers pure white 

 this same colour occupies also the greatest part of all the feathers of 

 the body from their base. In proportion as the young bird advances 



in age the colours of the plumage become brown, the white of the 

 tail occupies less space, and traces of the transverse bars appear. In 

 the third year the young bird puts on his adult plumage. 



Golden Eagle (Aquila clirysnelvs). 



Varieties. Partially or totally white. (Falco albus of Gmelin 

 F. cygneus of Latham ; L'Aigle Blanc of Brisson.) 



The Golden Eagle preys on lambs, fawns, &c., and often on large 

 birds. Extreme hunger will drive it to prey on carcasses. 



It inhabits the great forests in plains, and in a less degree those in 

 the mountains of the north of Europe ; very common in Sweden, in 

 Scotland, in the Tyrol, Franconia, and Suabia ; more rare in Italy 

 and Switzerland ; rather common in France, in the forest of Fontain- 

 bleau, in the mountains of Auvergne, and on the Pyrenees ; rare in 

 Holland ; less common in the Oriental countries than the preceding 

 species, that is, Aquila heliaca of Savigny, A. imperial of Temminck. 

 (Temminck.) According to Wilson the Golden Eagle inhabits 

 America, and occurs from the temperate to the arctic regions, 

 particularly in the latter, where it breeds on precipitous rocks, always 

 preferring a mountainous country. Sir John Richardson (' Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana 1 ) mentions it with a query as breeding in the 

 recesses of the subalpine country which skirts the Rocky Mountain.", 

 and as seldom seen farther to the eastward. " It is," he says, " lield 

 by the aborigines of America, as it is by almost every other people, 

 to be an emblem of might and courage, and the young Indian warrior 

 glories in his eagle plume as the most honourable ornament with 

 which he can adorn himself. Its feathers are attached to tho calu- 

 mets, or smoking-pipes, used by the Indians in the celebration of 

 their solemn festivals, which has obtained for it the name of the 

 Calumet Eagle. Indeed so highly are these ornaments prized that a 

 warrior will often exchange a valuable horse for the tail-feathers of a 

 single eagle." It is the Kocoo of the Cree Indians. Sir John 

 Richardson observes that the mature British Golden Eagle has a 

 darkish brown tail and wings, blackish-brown back, clouded with 

 brownish-black, and a paler and brighter brown head. He had not 

 seen an American one in this state, but we do not think that any 

 reason for a doubt. Many other authors mention the eagle and 

 ring-tails in such terms as to leave the identity of the bird almost 

 unquestionable ; and though Sir John Richardson says that it is 

 seldom seen farther to the eastward than the Rocky Mountains, 

 M. Audubon relates that he saw a Golden Eagle on the coast of 

 Labrador, besides others in various parts of the United States. It 

 inhabits Russia, Iceland, and Germany, and is said to occur in 

 northern Africa and Asia Minor. Mr. Yarrell, in his 'History of 

 British Birds,' thus sums up its localities in our islands : " The 

 Golden Eagle, though occasionally seen and sometimes obtained ill 

 the southern counties of England, is more exclusively confined to 

 Scotland and its western and northern islands. Some years ago a 

 specimen was killed at Bexhill, in Sussex. It bo,< nlso occurred, but 



