204 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



in the dry highlands of the interior. Its favourite haunts are the wide mangrove- 

 swamps bordering the larger rivers, where it may always be met with in numbers, 

 sometimes associating in pairs, and at other times singly. When seated, it may be 

 easily mistaken for a vulture, but its flight, although slower, is more like that of a 

 sea-eagle. When fishing, it generally flies close to the surface of the water, return- 

 ing as soon as it has captured a fish to the shore to devour its prey. In the breeding- 

 season these birds proceed higher up the rivers, where the trees are taller, and thus 

 afibrd better nesting-places than the low mangroves. The number of eggs in a nest 

 is usually only two. 



The noble birds known as sea-eagles, which include the largest 

 member of the whole family, differ from the preceding genus by the 

 absence of a naked space above the eye, and are further characterised by the 

 lanceolate feathers of the crown of the head, and by the wings reaching nearly or 

 quite to the end of the tail. The beak is long and powerful, straight for some 

 distance from the base, and then curving regularly downwards in a deep hook. In 

 the leg the metatarsus is feathered for nearly half its length, and the naked portion 

 reticulated down to the toes, while the latter are scutellated above. The strong, 

 curved claws are grooved beneath, that of the first toe being the largest of all. There 

 are some eight species of sea-eagles distributed over the whole world, with the ex- 

 ception of South America ; and, as the habits of all are generally similar, it will be 

 convenient to notice the species together, and then to consider their mode of life. 

 It may be mentioned that they are often confounded with the true eagles, from 

 which they may be distinguished at a glance by the naked lower half of the meta- 

 tarsus and the scutellation of its front surface. The sea-eagles may be divided 

 into three groups, according to whether the tail in the adult is entirely white, 

 black with a white band at the end, or white with terminal band of black. In 

 the former group the white-tailed or grey sea-eagle {Halia'etus alhicilla) is note- 

 worthy as being the only species met with in the British Isles. In addition 

 to the character from which it takes its name, it is distinguished by the brown 

 abdomen, the brownish wing-coverts, and the ashy brown hue of the head and 

 neck, which are lighter than the back. The female attains a length of 38 inches, 

 the male being about 4| inches less. This species ranges across Europe and 

 Northern Asia from Ireland to Japan, and also occurs in Southern Greenland, 

 while it extends southward to North- Western India. Its distribution includes the 

 whole of Europe, but it has now become extremely rare in the British Islands, 

 although still breeding in the Hebrides. The largest of all eagles are the giant or 

 Steller's sea-eagle (H. pelagicus), and the allied Corean sea-eagle (H. branicki), the 

 former attaining a length of 41 inches. Steller's sea-eagle, which is confined to 

 the north-eastern regions of the Old World, inhabiting North -Eastern Siberia, 

 North China, Japan, and Kamschatka, is distinguished by its pure white wing- 

 coverts, thighs, and upper and lower tail-coverts, and is further characterised by 

 its highly wedge-shaped tail, which has fourteen feathers in place of the usual 

 twelve. In young birds the wing -coverts and thighs are, however, brownish, 

 although in this state the species can be distinguished from the white-tailed sea- 

 eagle by the head and neck being of the same dark hue as the back. The Corean 

 species is a uniform slaty black colour, without the white shoulder-patches, thighs, 



