476 



A HISTORY OP 



are wounded, they are sure to be seized by 

 the eagle, though they may fly from the f'ovr- 

 ler. This bird will often also steal yoirig 

 pigs, and carry them alive to the nest, which 

 is composed of twigs, sticks, and rubbish; it 

 is large enough to fill the body of a cart ; and 

 is commonly full of bones half eaten, and 

 putrid flesh, the stench of which is intoler- 

 able. 



The distinctive marks of each species are 

 as follow : 



The golden eagle: of a tawny iron colour; 

 the head and neck of a reddish iron; the 

 tail feathers of a dirty white, marked with 

 cross bands of tawny iron; the legs covered 

 with tawny iron feathers. 



The common eagle : of a brown colour ; the 

 head and upper part of the neck inclining to 

 red; the tail feathers white, blackening at 

 the ends; the outer ones, on each side, of an 

 ash colour ; the legs covered with feathers of 

 a reddish brown. 



The bald eagle : brown ; the head, neck, 

 and tail feathers, white ; the feathers of the 

 upper part of the leg brown. 



The white eagle : the whole white. 



The rough-fooled eagle : of a dirty brown ; 

 spotted under the wings, and on the legs, 

 with white; the feathers of the tail white at 

 the beginning and the point ; the leg feathers 

 dirty brown, spotted with white. 



The white-tailed eagle: dirty brown; head 

 white ; the stems of the feathers black ; the 

 rump inclining to black; the tail feathers, 

 the first half black, the end half white ; legs 

 naked. 



The erne : a dirty iron colour above, an 



To these we may add, the bearded eagle of the Alpt, 

 * bird of vast size, measuring sometimes nearly ten feet 

 from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other: below 

 the throat is a beard-like appendage, consisting of very 

 arrow feathers. The legs are clothed with feathers quite 

 down to the toes. One of these Mr. Bruce shot on the 

 high mountains of Abyssinia. " Upon laying hold of his 

 monstrous carcass, (says he) I was not a little surprised 

 at seeing my hands covered and tinged with a yellow 

 powder or dust. Upon turning him on his belly, and 

 examining the feathers of his back, they also produced a 



iron mixed with black below ; the head and 

 neck ash, mixed with chesnut; the points of 

 the wings blackish ; the tail feathers white ; 

 the legs naked. 



The black eagle : blackish ; the head and 

 upper neck mixed with red ; the tail feathers, 

 the first half white^ speckled with black ; the 

 other half blackish; the leg feathers dirty 

 white. 



The sea eagle : inclining to white, mixed 

 with iron brown; belly white, with iron- 

 coloured spots ; the covert feathers of the 

 tail whitish ; the tail feathers black at the ex- 

 tremity; the upper part of the leg feathers of 

 an iron brown. 



The osprey : brown above, white below ; 

 the back of the head white, the outward tail 

 feathers, on the inner side, streaked with 

 white ; legs naked. 



The jean le blanc : above, brownish gray j 

 I below, white, spotted with tawny brown; 

 the tail feathers, on the outside and at the 

 extremity, brown; on the inside, white, streak- 

 ed with brown ; legs naked. 



The eagle of Brasil : blackish brown ; ash 

 colour, mixed in the wings ; tail feathers 

 white ; legs naked. 



The Oroonoko eagle: with a topping; above, 

 blackish brown ; below, white, spotted with 

 black ; upper neck yellow ; tail feathers 

 brown, with white circles ; leg feathers white, 

 spotted with black. 



The crowned African eagle : with a topping; 

 the tail of an ash colour, streaked on the 

 upper side with black. 



The eagle of Pondicherry : chesnut colour ; 

 the six outward tail feathers black one half. 1 



dust, the colour of the feathers there. The dust was not 

 in small quantities; for, upon striking the breast, the yellow 

 powder flew in full greater quantity than from a hair- 

 dresser's powder-puff. What is the reason of this extraor- 

 dinary provision of nature, it is not in my power to de- 

 termine. As it is an unusual one, it is probably meant 

 for a defence against the climate, in favour of the birds 

 which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a coufi- 

 try doomed, even in its lower parts, to several months ex- 

 cessive rain." 



