96 BRITISH BIRDS. 



AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 

 GOLDEN EAGLE. 



(PLATE 2.) 



Aquila aquila, Briss. Orn. i. p. 419 (1760 ; imm., probably second plumage). 



Aquila chrysaetos, Briss. Orn. i. p. 431 (1760, adult). 



Aquila melanaeetus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 434 (1760, young in first plumage). 



Falco chrysaetus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



(Gould), (Macyillivray), (Bonaparte), Naumann, (Jerdon), (Newton), (Coues), 



(Sharpe), S/-c. 



Falco fulvus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766). 

 Falco fulvus /3. canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 125 (1766). 

 Falco pygargus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 14 (1768). 

 Falco melanaetos, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 254 (1788). 

 Falco arnericanus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 (1788). 

 Falco niger, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 259 (1788). 

 Falco cygneus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 14 (1790). 

 Falco melanonotus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 16 (1790). 

 Falco aquila, Daud. Traite d'Orn. ii. p. 47 (1800). 

 Aquila americana (Gmel.), Viettl. Ois. Am. Sept. i. p. 31 (1807). 

 Aquila fulva, Sav. Syst. Ois. de TEgypte, p. 22 (1810). 

 Falco regalis, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 10 (1815). 

 Aquila nobilis, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 338 (1826). 

 Aquila regia, Less. Traite tf Orn. p. 36, pi. 8. fig. 1 (1831). 

 Aquila ? daphanea, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844). 

 Aquila barthelemyi, Jaub. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1852, p. 545. 

 Aquila canadensis * (Linn.), Cass. B. N. Amer. p. 41 (1858). 

 Aquila intermedia, Severtz. Turk. Jevotnie, p. 112 (1873). 



The Golden Eagle, one of the largest and most powerful birds of prey 

 found in the British Islands, although occasionally seen and obtained in 

 England, may now be said to be confined to the wildest and most isolated 

 districts of Scotland and Ireland. Time was when the bird bred in 

 England and Wales. In the days of Willughby it was said to breed on the 

 cliffs of Snowdon ; and that ornithologist also describes a nest found in 

 Derbyshire in the year 1668. Wallis also states, in his ' History of 



* Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' includes in the synonymy of the Golden Eagle 

 "Aquila canadensis (Gm.), Wils. Am. Orn. pi. Iv. tig. 1 (1808)." There appear to be no 

 less than three inaccuracies in this quotation. The authority for the specific name cana- 

 densis is either Linnaeus or Cassin, according to whether names which are quoted as 

 varieties are recognized or not. Wilson, on his plate Iv. fig. 1, calls this species Bing- 

 tail Eagle, and in the text Falco fulvus. This plate illustrates vol. vii., which is dated 

 1813, although vol. i. is dated 1808. How is it possible to make so many blunders with 

 Sharpe's ' Museum Catalogue ' to copy from ? Or is there an edition of Wilson of which 

 we know nothing in this country ? 



