54 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



Although occasionally found very far inland, yet the 

 sea-coast is undoubtedly its most highly favoured resort ; 

 or else the larger sheets of fresh water which are situated 

 in wild mountainous districts, and surrounded by lofty, 

 inaccessible crags. Specimens of the Sea Eagle have 

 been observed in almost every part of Great Britain, 

 but the most northerly portions of Scotland and Ireland, 

 and the Shetland and* Orkney Islands, are localities where 

 it is most common, its visits to the south and west being 

 very exceptional. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland 

 Siberia, and Russia are mentioned as countries in which 

 the bird is seen with more or less frequency. 



In the matter of food the Sea Eagle is not very par- 

 ticular j it attacks and destroys fish, flesh, and fowl with 

 great impartiality; young fawns, lambs, hares, rabbits, 

 game, seals, and fish are amongst the ordinary items of its 

 diet, and, as already stated, when the least pressed by hunger 

 it will feed readily upon carrion. Many instances are re- 

 corded of the bird chasing the Osprey, and robbing it of 

 the fish it had secured. The flight is very easy, but not, as 

 a rule, rapid ; a gentle gliding or sailing motion being 

 perhaps the best definition of its usual mode of progression. 

 During flight the legs are drawn closely up to the body, 

 and the head is drawn back to the shoulders. Sometimes, 

 when the bird is flying to a considerable distance, the wings 

 are moved slowly and regularly, after the manner of the 

 Heron. If disturbed when upon the ground it usually flies 

 for some time close to the earth, and seems to experience a 

 little difficulty in attaining at once to any great elevation. 



The n^st^of the Sea Eagle is large and u nsightl v ; it is 

 composed of sticks, heather, or dried seaweed, and lined 

 with wool, soft grasses, or feathers. It is generally placed 



