AQUILA. 29 



Gen. Aquila. Briss. 



Bill straight at the base, very much curved at the tip. Sides compressed. 

 Win^s, 4th and 5th quills longest and equal. Tarsi feathered to base of toes. 



26 Aquila chrysaetOS, Lin.; Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat. i. p. 339; 

 Gould. B. Ear. i. pi. 6 ; McGill. Brit. B. iii. p. 204 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 55, 

 No. 26; Stray Feathers, i. p. 157; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 139; Murray, 

 Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 74 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 236. Aquila fulva, Sav. Descr. 

 Ois. De Egypt ; Shelley, B. Egypt. The GOLDEN EAGLE. 



Adult Male. Crown of the head brown; nape and hind neck pale orange 

 brown, the feathers lanceolate, with brown bases; sides of the face paler. 

 Lores greyish white. Cheeks blackish. Back, scapulars, and wing coverts 

 dark brown, the latter and scapulars margined slightly paler. Greater wing 

 coverts with brownish mottlings. Primaries dark brown, blackish towards their 

 tips, basally white on their inner webs and clouded or mottled with brown. 

 Tail nearly square, the middle feathers slightly elongated. At the tip it is 

 dark brown or nearly black, greyish basally ; the intervening space brown and 

 much mottled. Under surface of body dark brown ; the thigh, leg and under 

 wing coverts pale brown, tinged or washed with tawny. Cere yellow. Bill 

 bluish horn colour, darker at the tip. Legs yellow. Irides hazel. 



Length. 35-5 to 40 inches ; wing 24-5 to 28 ; tail 14 to 17 ; tarsus 3-8 to 4*5. 

 The young has the plumage of a lighter shade. The feathers of the back, 

 scapulars, and tertials brown, basally broadly white and showing through. The 

 tail broadly black terminally, white or ashy at the base, and mottled with 

 brown. Under surface of body light brown, the feathers basally white. The 

 thigh and under tail coverts tawny rufous. Adult female is larger than the 

 male. 



Hab, The whole of Europe and N. Asia, extending into India and N. 

 China. Has been found in the Punjab and in the Himalayas. In Sind it 

 occurs on the hills dividing Sind from Khelat ; also in the Bolan, Beloochis- 

 tan, and probably extends into Persia and Afghanistan. 



Nothing is known as to the breeding of this noble and majestic eagle in 

 India. Of its breeding in Europe, Yarrell and Morris give long accounts. The 

 former says it makes a large platform of sticks on high and inaccessible rocks 

 and precipices, occupying a space of several square feet. Morris (B. Birds) 

 says, or on the stump of some tree projecting from them or on the lofty 



