IV 



FALCONIDAE 163 



upon the ground. A. adalberti, the White-shouldered Eagle 

 of Portugal, Spain, and North -West Africa often wrongly 

 called ." Imperial," preys upon lizards, snakes, hares and rabbits, 

 which it usually spies from a perch on some bare tree-top. It is 

 black, with brownish neck, greyish base to the tail, and a 

 white shoulder -patch, whereas A. mogilnik, the true Imperial 

 Eagle, ranging from Central Europe and North-East Africa to India 

 and China, differs in having the head and neck creamy yellow, and 

 only the scapulars white. A. rapax (naemo'ides), the Tawny Eagle 

 of most of Africa, rarely found in Europe, is remarkable for the 

 parti-coloured feathers of purplish-brown and rufous on the upper 

 parts ; otherwise it is brown, slightly streaked with fulvous below. 

 The smaller A. vindhiana and A.fulvescens of India are very like 

 it, while A. verreauxi of Abyssinia and South Africa is jet black 

 with white rump and lower back. Uroaetus audax of Australia 

 and Tasmania is black, and has a wedge-shaped tail, the bright 

 chestnut nape being streaked with black, and the head with white. 

 Of the Sea Eagles, characterized by very large bills and nearly 

 bare metatarsi, the biggest is the fish-eating Thalassaetus pelagicus, 

 brown in colour, with white cuneate tail, rump, thighs, and patch 

 on the wing-coverts. It inhabits the coasts, lakes, and rivers of 

 North East Asia, the Liu-Kiu Islands and Japan, rarely wandering 

 to America. T. branickii of Corea is slaty-black, with only the 

 tail and its coverts white. Haliaetus albicilla, the Erne or Sea- 

 Eagle, of which a few pairs remain in Shetland and the west of 

 Scotland and Ireland, used to breed at least as far south in Eng- 

 land as the Isle of Man and the Lake District, while in winter 

 immature or even adult specimens still frequently occur in 

 various parts. Generally distributed over the Old World from 

 Greenland to Kamtschatka, it breeds also in the Danube valley, 

 Turkey, Greece, and Egypt, migrating to the Canary Islands, North 

 Africa, Japan, China, and occasionally the Commander Islands. It 

 is brown with white tail, the full plumage not being attained for 

 nearly six years ; but very old examples become whitish on the 

 head and neck. In most of its habits it resembles the Golden 

 Eagle, though the note is shriller, and the food consists largely of 

 fish, seized in the talons as it swoops down ; it is said to be very 

 destructive to lambs, and, as it eats carrion, it is readily poisoned. 

 In Britain the eyries are now in precipitous sea-cliffs, but of old 

 inland rocks and trees were utilized, as is the case abroad, while 



