THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 179 



those of the highest North ; but it is not met with in Greenland 

 or Iceland. 



13. Lesser Spotted Eagle [KLEINER SCHREIADLER]. 

 FALCO NAEVIUS, Linn. 1 



Falco naevius. Naumann, i. 217, xiii. 50; ibid. Blasius, Nachtrage, 10. 



Lesser Spotted Eagle. Dresser, v. 401. 



Aigle Criard. Temminck, Manuel, i. 42, iii. 23. 



As has been already mentioned under the preceding species, this 

 bird has been met with twice on the island ; the same gunner who, 

 in 1867, shot the Golden Eagle before referred to, also shot, about 

 the year 1838, when still quite a young fellow, the only Spotted 

 Eagle ever killed on the island. The bird was quite young and very 

 strongly spotted, its plumage comparing remarkably with that of a 

 young Gannet (Sula alba}. It was stuffed by Reymers. A bird of 

 this species, which had been washed up by the sea, was afterwards 

 found at the foot of the cliff by the elder Aeuckens ; it had however 

 been so much eaten into by the thousands of rats which frequent 

 the place that only the upper parts of the bird which was lying on 

 its back and the wings, were left undamaged. This bird too was 

 a strongly-spotted young male. 



The Lesser Spotted Eagle nests in northern and central Germany, 

 Livonia, Poland, and south-eastern Europe as far south as Greece. 



14. Sea Eagle [SEE ABLER]. 

 FALCO ALBICILLA, Linn.* 



Heligolandish : Oadlear= Eagle. 

 Falco albicilla. Naumann, i. 224, xiii. 66. 

 Sea Eagle. Dresser, v. 551. 



Aigle pygargue. Temminck, Manuel, i. 49, iii. 26. 



If an east wind sets in at the approach of winter we may with 

 safety reckon upon seeing one or more of these birds circling round 

 in the course of the day; and should the wind be succeeded by 

 a lasting frost, Sea Eagles become, if not daily, yet by no means 

 unusual occurrences ; if, on the other hand, westerly winds and wet 

 weather prevail during the winter the birds are absent. Isolated 

 examples are also seen occasionally in October and early in the 

 spring. 



1 Aquila pomarina, C. L. Brehm. 2 Haliaetiis albicilla (Linn.). 



