12 ERNE. 



(though some say three, and that the third is always an addled 

 one,) are white, yellowish white, or yellowish brown, and some 

 are wholly covered with light red spots, while others have 

 only the large end dotted over. One of these birds has been 

 known to lay an egg after having been in confinement for 

 more than twenty years. The young are hatched about the 

 beginning of June, and fully fledged about the middle of August. 



The Erne varies much both in size and in colour, which 

 latter becomes more cinerous as the bird advances in age, and 

 this was the cause of the one species, in the different stages 

 of its plumage, having been imagined to be two distinct ones. 

 One has been killed in Sutherlandshire, entirely of a silvery 

 white hue, without any admixture of brown, and another of 

 the like appearance was seen at the same time in company 

 with it. A very curious variety in the Zoological Society's 

 Collection is thus described by Meyer, in his 'Illustrations of 

 British Birds,' 'No painting can fitly represent the delicate 

 and beautiful colour of this bird. When its feathers are 

 ruffled, as may be frequently observed, at the pleasure of the 

 creature, a delicate azure blue tint is seen to pervade the 

 basal part of the feathers, which, appearing through the whole 

 transparent texture, imparts to its plumage the singular tint 

 it displays. It is observable that the beak of this individual 

 is rather less in depth at the base than is usual in this species, 

 and the iris yellowish white.' 



It is also to be remarked that the difference in size between 

 the male and the female, is not nearly so great as is usual in 

 the case of the other Eagles, and so conspicuously so in the 

 species next described, and that they are also very similar in 

 general appearance. The following is the description of the 

 adult bird: Weight, about eight or nine pounds; length, about 

 three feet. Bill, dark straw-colour (at two years old, increasing 

 in intensity of colour as the bird grows older,) and with a 

 bluish skin, slightly bristled over, extending from its base to 

 the eyes; cere, yellow; iris, bright yellow, and remarkably 

 beautiful and expressive. The feathers underneath the lower 

 bill are bristly; crown of the head and neck, pale greyish 

 brown, the feathers being hackles; breast and back, dark 

 brown. The wings, when closed, reach the end of the tail, 

 the fourth and fifth quill feathers being the longest: their 

 expanse is about six feet and a half; secondaries, brown, 

 partly tinged with grey. The tail, which is rather short and 

 rounded, and consists of twelve broad feathers, has a small 



