ON EAGLES. 247 



golden tint is very bright ; and many, even, are of a muddy 

 brown. I do not think that the age of the bird has anything 

 to do with this, as I have seen the colour in young and old 

 equally variable. The sure mark of a young one is the degree 

 of white on the tail : the first year the upper half is pure, 

 which gradually becomes less so by streaks of brown ; about 

 the third or fourth year no white is to be seen. 



THE SEA-EAGLE. 



The sea-eagle is rather larger than the golden, and of a 

 lighter brown. The bill, which is longer and broader, but not 

 so hooked as in the other, is of a dull yellowish white. The 

 whole of the tail-feathers of the young ones are brown, when 

 they gradually change to white, which is complete about the 

 fourth year the very reverse of the golden eagle. The tail 

 is also shorter, and the legs are not feathered to the toes, like 

 the other ; but quite enough to show that the bird was not in- 

 tended to subsist by fishing, like the osprey, whose legs are 

 bare to the thighs, which have only a thin covering of short 

 feathers. 



As this bird does not complete its mature plumage till the 

 fourth season, there was much confusion regarding it even 

 among scientific naturalists some making out two, and others 

 three distinct species. It has also been confounded with the 

 bald eagle of America, to which it bears a close resemblance 

 when both are young that is, before the American is digni- 

 fied with a grey head, and the erne with a white train. These 

 mistakes have been long ago cleared up, and the bird dis- 

 tinctly traced through all its maturing stages. 



The habits of the sea-eagle differ materially from those of 

 the golden. While the latter has its sole and grand resort in 

 the Scottish mountains, the former has a very discursive range. 

 It is a constant winter visitant to the Lowlands, and even as 



