288 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX. 



brown. The bird was killed in Sutherlandshire ; 

 and I was informed that another eagle had been 

 seen in its company with the same unusual plumage. 

 The bird had quite arrived at maturity, but did not 

 appear to be a very old one. Partridges, pheasants, 

 grouse, and many small birds occasionally appear 

 in a snow-white dress ; but the birds of prey 

 seldom change their colour. A black swan we 

 read of as an example of a "rara avis;" what 

 must then a white crow have been thought of by 

 the augurs and omen-seekers among the ancients ? 

 Yet rooks and jackdaws, both parti-coloured and 

 white, are by no means so uncommon with us as 

 to be looked on as wonders. 



This white eagle had been probably bred on some 

 of the wild rocky headlands of the north coast of 

 Sutherlandshire, where not even the value of the 

 eggs can at all times induce the shepherds of the 

 neighbourhood to attempt their capture. The sea- 

 eagle is, in its habits, a sluggish, vulture-like bird, 

 feeding chiefly on the dead fish and other animal 

 substances which are cast up by the sea on these 

 lonely and rugged shores, and seldom attacking the 

 lambs of the farmer to the same extent as the golden 

 eagle does. Although it is frequently seen, and 

 its sharp bark-like cry is heard far inland, the usual 

 hunting-ground of the sea-eagle is along the shore, 



