195 



GOLDEN EAGLE. 



Aqiiila chrysaetos. 



DESCRIPTIOX. 



Tarsi di;nsely feathered all around to base of yellow toes. 

 Length about 3 feet; extent 61/2 to TVo feet. 



Ad2ilt.—Geneia.l color dark brown; the lengthened pointed 

 feathers of hind neck golden brown; feathers of tarsi pale 

 yellowish-brown; tail blackish and grayish. 



Immature — Basal two-thirds of all tall white, with a blackish 

 terminal band, U)wer parts much lighter than adult. 



Habitat. — North America south to Mexico, and northern 

 parts of the Old World. A winter resident in Pennsylvania. 



This large bird occiiis in Pennsylvania as a winter 

 visitant. The only species with which it is sometimes 

 confounded is the Bald or White-headed Eagle in im 

 mature plumage. The two species can always be dis- 

 tinguished at a single glance, if you remember that the 

 Golden Eagle has the tarsus densely feathered to the 

 toes, and the Bald Eagle has a bare tarsus. One of 

 the largest Golden Eagles I ever saw was captured in 

 December, 1889, by a hunter in Cameron county. This 

 bird, which was handsomely mounted by my friend, 

 Mr. M. M. Larrabee, of Emporium, weighed, ^Ir. Larra- 

 be€i informed me, twenty-five pounds. The species 

 breeds in high mountainous regions and the Arctic 

 countries. 



There is a specimen of the Golden Eagle, in the 

 Museum of the Pennsylvania State College, captured a 

 few years ago in Clinton county, where for several 

 days, when deep snow covered the ground, it lingered 

 about a farm house and preyed upon chickens and 

 turkeys, and when it was shot it had just swooped 

 down on a favorite pussy which spent movst of her time 

 in a swampy, grassy thicket, near the barnyard, watch 

 iug for small birds iind r.iltbits. 



