THE CINEREOUS EAGLE. 247 



contented with rats ; and when very hungry, would not tear 

 them in pieces, but swallow them whole. This I saw him 

 do with nearly full-grown individuals of Mus decumanus. 

 Once he escaped out of the cage, and whilst being recaptured 

 received much maltreatment, from which he seemed never 

 fully to recover; and one morning towards the spring he 

 was found dead in his prison." 



The Cinereous, or White-tailed Eagle (Hafs-Orn, or Sea- 

 Eagle, Sw. ; Aquila Albicilla, Briss.),* though not common, 

 was occasionally met with in my neighbourhood, as also 

 on the coast, where indeed to my knowledge some bred. As 

 with the golden eagle, he is most abundant in the more 

 northern parts of Scandinavia M. von Wright met with 

 him as high up as 70 3 1' of latitude and excepting in the 

 autumn and winter, is not so frequently seen in the southern 

 provinces of Sweden. 



Though the cinereous, like the golden eagle, has his eyrie 

 for the most part on the shelf of a steep and lofty rock, he 

 also makes his nest in a tree, and frequently at some distance 

 from water. The female lays from two to three eggs, white 

 in colour. 



In disposition, this bird is less ferocious than the golden 

 eagle ; and if taken when very young is easily domesticated, 

 in which case he is said to evince more cowardice than 

 courage. Instances are on record of his being allowed to go 

 at large with the fowls in the poultry-yard, and of his never 

 injuring them in any way. On the contrary, he rather served 



* The so-called Falco ossifragus, Linn., which English naturalists formerly 

 considered as belonging to our Fauna, and which Nilsson at the present 

 day includes in that of Scandinavia, is now known to be the young of the 

 A. Albicilla. 



