262 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



congenial a home on the sea-board as in the woods 

 or fields, or even cities of the interior. 



WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 



Half a century ago this fine bird, the Haliaetus 

 albicilla of ornithologists, was very generally dis- 

 tributed round our northern coasts ; in earlier years 

 than that it bred in certain parts of England, 

 possibly on most of our highest headlands. Trap, 

 gun, and poison have done their sad work only too 

 well, and now the White-tailed Eagle is banished 

 almost entirely from the land. The birds that 

 still survive are mostly confined to the Hebrides, 

 to the wild waste of islands and sea along the 

 western seaboard of Scotland. Occasionally stray 

 birds are noticed, during autumn and winter, on the 

 coast of England, but these are almost invariably 

 immature individuals on their migration south. 

 The White-tailed Eagle almost exclusively fre- 

 quents maritime districts, where it may be seen at 

 a vast height soaring on never-tiring wing, or 

 standing on some rock pinnacle. It preys upon 

 every bird or animal that it is able to capture 

 newly-dropped lambs and fawns, hares, rabbits, 

 grouse, and waterfowl. But its favourite fare, 

 perhaps, is carrion - - stranded fish and other 

 garbage on the shore, dead sheep, and so on. 

 This Eagle makes its eyrie on some stupendous 

 ocean cliff, and, as the birds pair for life, the spot is 

 occupied years in succession. The nest is a huge 



