144 ACCIPITRES. 



The general colours are : the naked parts, the cere, tarsi, 

 and toes, greyish blue ; the irides, yellow ; the prevailing 

 colour on the upper parts, with the exception of the back of 

 the head and nape, blackish brown ; and that on the under 

 parts, with the exception of the breast, which is marked with 

 light brown, white, passing into dull grey toward the vent 

 and tail. There is a streak of deep brown down each side of 

 the neck, and the chin and front of the neck are marked by 

 longitudinal spots of the same colour. The quills darker 

 brown than the coverts ; and the margins of the feathers in 

 the latter are sometimes relieved by a lighter brown, which, 

 however, wants the warm tint of the other eagles. The 

 three middle feathers of the tail are wholly brown, and the 

 others have white bars on their inner webs, the outer webs of 

 the exterior ones, and also of the first feathers of the wings, 

 being very narrow and stiff. The feathers upon all the under 

 parts, including the under coverts of the wings, are remark- 

 ably smooth and closely set, resembling those on the under 

 sides of water-fowl ; indeed, the very shape of that part of 

 the body has some resemblance to that of a swimming bird. 

 The feathers on the legs, which just clothe the upper joints 

 of the tarsi, are pure white, and resemble fine straight hairs 

 as much as ordinary feathers. The feathers on the upper 

 parts are more those of a land bird ; but they are not so 

 decidedly so as the feathers of the other eagles. 



The young birds are more varied in their plumage than the 

 old ones. The brown on the back becomes uniform, or nearly 

 so, in the mature plumage ; and the brown and grey disap- 

 pear from the under parts, leaving these pure white! 



The feathering of the under part, the edges of the wings, 

 and the tail, are all admirably adapted to the habits of the 

 bird. Usually an inhabitant of the air, and of the air in 

 places that are rather warm (for it is more abundant in the 

 south of England and Ireland than in the central parts, and 



