FALCONID^. 3 



sionally killed in deer parks and forests : he also 

 says it has been seen to feed on seals. The nest is 

 always placed amongst high rocks and cliffs: it is 

 composed of a large mass of sticks and apparently 

 lined with soft materials. 



In this species the males, as in many of the 

 Falconidse, are larger than the females: "The 

 beak and cere, or naked skin at the base of the 

 beak, are yellow ; irides straw-yellow ; the head 

 and neck brownish ash, made up by a mixture of 

 yellowish white and brown, the shaft of each 

 feather the darkest part; body and wings dark 

 brown, intermixed with a few feathers of a lighter 

 colour ; primaries nearly black ; tail entirely white 

 and slightly rounded in form, the middle feathers 

 being the longest; the legs and toes yellow; claws 

 black." The young birds "have the beak dull 

 horn-colour, cere yellowish brown ; irides brow r n ; 

 the plumage more uniform in colour and darker; 

 the tail-feathers dark brown."* In this state it is 

 the Sea Eagle of Bewick and other authors. This 

 bird may be distinguished at any age from the 

 Golden Eagle by the tarsus, which in that bird is 

 feathered to the junction of the toes, and in this 

 only half way down. 



The eggs are of a white ground colour, occa- 

 sionally tinged with very little red colour. 



* Yarrell, p. 29. 



B 2 



