GOLDEN-EAGLE AND 

 WHITETAILED-EAGLE 



[ORDER: Accipitres. SUBORDER: Falcones. FAMILY: Buteonidce. 



SUBFAMILY: Aquilince] 



PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. 0. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



GOLDEN-EAGLE [Aquila chrysdetus (Linnaeus). Black eagle. French, 

 aigle royal ; German, Steinadler, Goldadler ; Italian, aquila reale], 



1. Description. The golden-eagle may at once be distinguished by the fact 

 that the legs are feathered down to the bases of the toes. The sexes are alike, but 

 the female is slightly larger. There is no seasonal change of coloration. (PL 144.) 

 Length of male 32 in. [812-0 mm.], of female 35 in. [889*0 mm.]. The general 

 colour of the upper parts is of a dark chocolate-brown, with a more or less per- 

 ceptible purple gloss. The feathers of the mantle and wing-coverts have paler 

 edges. The primaries are black, the secondaries have the terminal third black, 

 the rest ash-grey heavily mottled with brown ; the tail quills are dark brown, 

 darkest at the tips, and crossed by a broad transverse greyish band. The head 

 is of a lighter brown shading into gold colour on the nape, where the feathers are 

 long and acuminate. The under parts are of a dark chocolate, save the feathers 

 of the legs and tinder tail-coverts, which are paler. The cere, bare skin round the 

 eye, and toes are chrome-yellow ; the iris golden brown. Immature birds differ 

 from the adults chiefly in the fact that the tail is of a dull white with a broad 

 terminal band of dark chocolate-brown ; the basal half of the feathers of the 

 under surface is white. The young in down is white, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. At the present time the golden-eagle is confined as a 

 British breeding species to Scotland and possibly one locality in Ireland. It 



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