36 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



The osprey: brown above, white below, the 

 back of the head white, the outward taii 

 feathers, on the inner side, streaked with 

 white ; legs naked. 1 



most commonly the sea-coasts, or the banks of the large 

 rivers and inlets, they make their prey chiefly of fishes 

 and aquatic birds. These they usually carry off to de- 

 vour at their leisure either on the rocks or in their nests. 

 But occasionally, when all other resources fail, they 

 fix themselves upon the dead carcasses of animals which 

 are thrown upon the shore, and their manner of feed- 

 ing under such circumstances closely resembles the 

 disgusting voracity of the vultures. For hours and 

 sometimes for days together they remain stationary 

 upon the putrid carrion, and quit it only when it no 

 longer affords the means of satiating the cravings of 

 their appetite. 



Much confusion has existed in the synonymy of the 

 great sea-eagle, the difference of the colours of the plu- 

 mage in the various stages of its growth, having misled 

 authors so far as to induce them to record it under 

 several distinct specific names. Three of these were 

 almost universally admitted until about twenty years 

 ago, when M. Frederic Cuvier published in the Annals 

 of the French museum the result of his observations 

 on the individuals confined, in the Jardin des Plantes, 

 which had convinced him of the propriety of uniting the 

 falco ossifragus, albicaudus, and albicilla of Gmelin 

 under one common name. The differences which were 

 formerly supposed to exist between these birds have 

 been recognised by almost every subsequent writer as 

 those of age alone. In its earlier stages its beak is of 

 a bluish horn-colour ; its head and neck deep brown ; 

 the plumage of its upper surface brownish black, with 

 a mixture of whitish or ash-coloured spots on the back 

 and tail. In this state it is the falco ossifragus of syste- 

 matic writers. As it advances in age, about the third 

 or fourth year, the head and neck become of an ashy 

 brown; the beak gradually loses its bluish tinge and 

 changes to a pale yellow; the white spots on the back 

 disappear; and the tail is of a uniform grayish white: 

 this is the falco albicaudus of Gmelin, the petit 

 pygargue of Buffon, and the lesser white-tailed eagle 

 of Latham. When it has attained its fifth year the 

 change may be regarded as complete : the head and 

 neck have little of the brown tinge remaining; the 

 back is throughout of a dusky brown intermixed with 

 ashy gray; and the tail is perfectly white. It has 

 now arrived at its mature state, in which it has been 

 described and figured as the falco albicilla, the grand 

 pygargue, and the white-tailed or cinereous eagle. 

 In all its stages the cere and naked parts of the legs 

 are yellow ; the under part of the body is of a lighter 

 hue than the upper, and more thickly interspersed 

 with pale cinereous spots ; and the claws are completely 

 black. 



The great sea-eagle is an inhabitant of nearly the 

 whole of Europe and of Northern Asia. It sometimes 

 builds its nests in the clefts of rocks, but more fre- 

 quently on the summit of some lofty tree. The female 

 lays two eggs, about the same size and shape as those of 

 a goose. The young are fed with fish or flesh until they 

 are able to quit the nest, when they sally forth with 

 their parents in quest of their own prey, and speedily 

 assume an independent mode of life. 



With the sea-eagles of Europe and of the northern 

 parts of America, are associated several other species 

 of the eagle tribe, whose essential characters are nearly 

 similar, and whose natural habits may therefore be pre- 

 sumed to be the same. Of these three are Asiatic, 

 three African, two or three natives of Australia and the 

 islands of the Polynesia, and two of South America; so 

 that the group appears to be universally spread over all 



The jean le blanc : above, brownish grey; 

 below, white, spotted with tawny brown; the 

 tail feathers, on the outside and at the extrem 

 ity, brown; on the inside, white, streaked 

 with brown; legs naked. 



The eagle of Brazil: blackish brown; ash 

 colour, mixed in the wings ; tail feathers 

 white; legs naked. (See Plate XVI. fig. 

 6.) 



The Oroonoko eagle : with a topping; above, 

 blackish brown ; below, white, spotted with 

 black; upper neck yellow; tail feathers brown, 

 with white circles ; leg feathers white, spotted 

 with black. 



The crowned African eagle: with a topping; 

 the tail of an ash colour, streaked on the upper 

 side with black. 



The eagle of PondicJierry ; chestnut colour: 

 the six outward tail feathers black one half. 2 



the grand divisions of the globe. The birds of which it 

 is composed may be regarded as of almost equal utility 

 in the economy of nature with the vultures, between 

 which and the true eagles they hold an intermediate 

 station. The former consume the putrid carcases of land 

 animals, and the latter remove the offensive remains of fishes 

 and other animals, which would otherwise accumulate in 

 disgusting quantity along the sea-coast, and on the margins 

 of lakes. Gardens and Menageries of the Zoological Society 

 Delineated. Vol. II. 



Amongst the sea-eagles are included the WHITE-HEADED 

 SEA-EAGLE (Halicetus cucocepkalus), the CHILIAN SEA 

 EAGLE, and the BRAZILIAN CARACARA EAGLE (Fabeo 

 Brasiliensis). PI. L. fi ?s . 1, 3, and 4. 



1 The Osprey, or Ossifrage, is so named, because frag- 

 ments of bones of considerable magnitude have been 

 found in its stomach. From its usual habitat on the 



sea-shore, on the banks of great rivers anil lakes over 

 which it is continually hovering, it has received the 

 denomination of the great sea-eagle ; of which an account 

 is given in the previous note. 



2 To these may be added, a species of sea-eagle, which 

 M. Audubon has called the Bird of Washington, as 

 seing the noblest of the genus known to naturalists. 



" It was on a winter's evening," he says, " in the 

 month of February, 1814, that, for the first time in my 

 ife, I had an opportunity of seeing this rare and noble 

 hird, and never shall I forget the delight it gave me. 

 We were on a trading voyage, ascending the Upper 

 Mississippi, the keen winter blasts whistled over our 

 heads, and the cold from which I suffered had, in a 

 great degree, extinguished the deep interest which, at 



