370 



EAGLE. 



was kept tor some time in the gardens of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, and afterwards transferred to 

 the collection of the Zoological Society. No very 

 satisfactory account of the native habits of an eagle can 

 be procured when the bird is confined, so that instead 

 of showing its style of flight, it has not room to spread 

 its wings. It is probable, too, that some of the accounts 

 given by travellers of the formidable nature of this 

 eagle are very much exaggerated ; and that its real 

 habits are destitute of the grandeur of the eagles of 

 the open air over the wilds, of which it certainly has 

 none of the expression. From all that we can infer 

 respecting the character of this eagle, we should be 

 disposed to conclude that it combines, in part, the 

 manners of the woodland hawks and the vultures ; 

 but as the districts over which it extends are varied 

 and difficult to be explored, it is not easy to speak 

 with precision respecting it. The curvature of the 

 bill, all the way from the base, is certainly a character 

 analogous to that of the hawks. 



In the richer parts of tropical America, Africa, the 

 East Indies, and also New Holland, there are eagles 

 which bear some resemblance to this one in their 

 habits ; being found chiefly over or near the streams, 

 and feeding, in part at least, upon fish. We may 

 mention one or two of these, though they rest chiefly 

 upon museum specimens, or at best upon individuals 

 seen casually. 



THE CARACARA EAGLE is a very common bird of 

 prey both in Brazil and in Paraguay. It gets its name 

 from the sound of its voice. It is a low-flying eagle, a 

 very miscellaneous feeder, and, contrary to the habits 

 of the more typical eagles, it comes near human 

 dwellings, and, ui part at least, picks up its food while 

 on the ground. It cannot fly high, and walks more 

 than birds of prey generally do. The upper part of 

 the head is black ; the neck brownish grey ; the 

 breast and shoulders of that colour, barred with 

 brown ; the other part of the plumage is blackish 

 brown, except the tail, which is a dirty white colour, 

 with dusky bands, and a black termination. The 

 changes in plumage are too frequent to give the 

 reader an accurate description. The caracara is so 

 bold as to frequent house-tops, walking about with as 

 little fear as the vulture ; and it is said even to carry 

 off the sportsman's game before his eyes. D'Azzara 

 .tells us that he has seen four or five of this species 

 hunt down red buzzards and herons ; and they are 

 believed to prey upon the American ostrich, lambs, 

 and young fawns. 



THE CHILIAN SEA EAGLE. This species, though 

 named from the western shore of South America, is 

 found also on the east, and might, with equal pro- 

 priety, be named after Brazil, or indeed almost any 

 other part of the continent. The habit of naming 

 birds after individual localities, from which a specimen 

 happens to be brought, occasions no small confusion 

 in natural history. This bird plies along the coasts 

 of the sea and the margins of the large fresh waters, 

 but it is a bird of much less splendour in its habits 

 than the whit-headed eagle of the north, or even the 

 osprey. It is not so much a fisher as it is a scavenger, 

 haunting the shores for the purpose of clearing them 

 of the refuse of animal matter, much in the same way 

 as the vultures do upon land. The plumage of a 

 mature bird is greyish on the upper part, with white 

 margins to the feathers on the back and breast, and 

 white on the under part, with feathers on the tarsi, 

 which are also of a whitish colour, pencilled with lines 



of greyish brown. This formation of the feet indicates 

 a bird which has not the habit of plunging into the 

 water for the purpose of seizing its prey \Ve believe 

 there are several other American species resembling 



The Chilian Sea Eagle. 



these more or less in their habits, but the distinctions 

 between them are involved in much obscurity ; and 

 it does not appear that there is anything peculiarly 

 interesting in their history, or that a more intimate 

 acquaintance with them would contribute much to our 

 real knowledge of the feathered race. 



SOUTH AFRICAN EAGLE. This species inhabits 

 the country about the Cape of Good Hope, but it is 

 supposed to extend over a great part of southern Africa; 

 indeed, over all the country to the southward of the 

 Great Desert. It is more of a land eagle than those 

 which have been mentioned as inhabiting South 

 America, is subject to great changes of plumage, 

 being tawny chestnut when young, and brown, marked 

 with black, when old. 



THE WHITISH AFRICAN EAGLE. This species, as 

 mentioned by Le Vaillant, and some other travellers, 

 is thus described : Whitish, variegated above with 

 yellowish brown, the black barred with white ; back 

 of the head slightly crested. About a third smaller 

 than the golden eagle, and of a more slender 

 shape ; first observed in the regions of Africa that 

 confine on the Cape of Good Hope. This eagle 

 pursues its game with such agility that hardly any 

 bird can outstrip it. It is partial to a sort of wood- 

 pigeon, whose flight is also very rapid, but which 

 rarely escapes its fangs. It likewise subsists on wood- 

 partridges, and on a very diminutive kind of antelope, 

 which occurs only in the forests. There, concealed 

 behind the thick branch of a tree, this eagle watches 

 his prey, which he seizes by rushing down on it with- 

 out noise. No sooner has he accomplished the capture 

 than all the crows in the neighbourhood flock around 

 him to share in the spoil ; but he defies alike their 

 approach and their clamour, so that they are con- 

 tented to remain under the tree on which he makes 

 his repast, and pick up the fallen fragments. He 

 never eats his game on the ground, but always bears 

 it to some lofty station, and plucks off 1 the feathers 

 before he despatches it. " But what is very extraor- 

 dinary," observes Le Vaillant, "and seems difficult of 

 beliei in a bird whose ordinary food consists of birds, 



