138 ACCIPITRES. 



but that does not establish a general habit in the race, for 

 there have been instances of individual animals that belong 

 to the most roving kinds attaching themselves both to persons 

 and to places. 



The roaming disposition of these birds, more especially 

 before they arrive at their maturity of plumage, tended much 

 to establish the old opinion, that the old and the young were 

 different species. The general colour of the young is umber 

 brown, with the margins of the feathers lighter, especially on 

 the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts, the margins of the 

 former being of a reddish straw-colour, as is also the chin 

 and upper part of the throat ; and a number of spots on the 

 under part of the bird, among which there are patches of 

 white. The tail, at that age, is dark brown, as dark at the 

 points of the feathers as the deepest brown of the golden 

 eagle, but mottled with lighter brown on the other parts. 

 The bill in that stage is bluish, though not so deep in the 

 colour as the bill of the golden eagle. It is also larger in 

 proportion to the size of the bird, but softer and weaker, less 

 uniformly curved from the base, and more completely without 

 a tooth and notch. 



As this bird advances towards its permanent or mature 

 plumage, the changes which it undergoes are, in some respects, 

 the reverse of those of the golden eagle. The feathers on the 

 head and upper part of the neck become lighter, the bill 

 changes from bluish to straw-colour, the yellow of the cere 

 and the brown of the irides acquire a tinge of red, the brown 

 on the principal parts become more uniform, and the tail- 

 coverts and tail become white. There is, in fact, so much 

 metamorphosis in the colour of the bird, that, until the 

 change of the plumage had been actually watched, or the 

 similarity of habits more closely observed than it is very easy 

 to do in the case of eagles in a wild state, one cannot blame 

 those who, being without the proofs, concluded that they 



