26 FALCONIDjE. 



upper ridge broad and rather flattened. Edges of the maxilla slightly pro- 

 minent behind the commencement of the hook. Nostrils large, transverse, and 

 of a lunate shape. Wings ample ; the fourth quill-feather the longest. Legs 

 having the tarsi half -feathered ; the front of the naked part scutellated, and the 

 sides and back reticulated. Toes divided to their origin ; the outer one versa- 

 tile. Claws strong and hooked, grooved beneath ; that of the hind toe larger 

 than that of the inner, which again exceeds that of the others. 



As a British species the White-tailed, Cinereous or Sea- 

 Eagle, is much more abundant than the Golden Eagle, and 

 on some parts of the coast of these islands is not of rare 

 occurrence. It chiefly frequents the neighbourhood of the 

 sea, whether the shore be low and bordered by sand-hills, or 

 by high and rocky cliffs. In either case it keeps a look-out 

 from some elevation, and is equally ready to seize ground- 

 game, fowl, or fish. Carrion and offal also are very attractive 

 to it, but this taste does not hinder it from evincing a par- 

 tiality for fawns, as its habit of resorting to deer-parks and 

 forests shows. It has been taken in most districts of England, 

 and even very near London, though less frequently in the mid- 

 land than in the maritime counties. On the east and south-east 

 coast, though not numerous, it may be regarded as a regular 

 autumn and winter visitant ; not that it confines itself to the 

 sea-board, but haunts also the larger waters and the exten- 

 sive rabbit-warrens of the interior. Messrs. Gurney and 

 Fisher, in the ' Zoologist ' for 1846, observe that " when 

 they appear on the coast, the birds of this species are con- 

 stantly followed and mobbed by flocks of Gulls, and that 

 when they come inland they are similarly accompanied by 

 Rooks." These visitants are almost invariably in immature 

 plumage, and Mr. Stevenson, in his excellent ' Birds of 

 Norfolk,' says that in no instance has he known the adult to 

 occur in that county, where Sir Thomas Browne, writing 

 two hundred years ago, speaks of the not unusual appear- 

 ance of the " halycetus, or fen eagles." Indeed, in former 

 times, this species must have been far more abundant in 

 England than at present, for there is good reason for believ- 

 ing that it bred in many stations around the kingdom. To 

 it, probably, belonged the Eaglet which, in Warner's ' Isle 

 of Wight,' is said to have been taken from the Culver Cliff 



