242 The Falcon-like Birds 



Eagles (A. maculata and A. hastata), while Africa is the home of several fine 

 species, as Verreaux's Eagle (A. verreauxi) of northeast and South Africa, the 

 Tawny Eagle (A. rapax), and Wahlberg's Eagle (A. ivahlbergi). 



Wedge-tailed Eagje. In Australia and Tasmania there is a large, powerful 

 Eagle that was formerly associated with the true Eagles, but which is now 

 separated from them mainly on account of the fact that the tail is strongly wedge- 

 shaped, when closed the middle pair of feathers exceeding the others by more than 

 the length of the tarsus. The Wedge-tailed Eagle ( Uroaetus audax\ as it is 

 appropriately called, is about thirty-eight inches long and is, in the adult, mainly 

 blackish brown in color, with the edges and extremities of the feathers stained 

 with pale brown, while the back and sides of the neck are rusty reddish. The 

 young have all the feathers of the upper parts tipped and stained with rusty, 

 while the head and back are deep fawn-color and the breast and throat blackish 

 brown. It frequents the plains and open crowns of the hills, and while it feeds 

 mostly upon living prey, such as small mammals and birds, it is also fond of 

 offal and carrion, and Gould mentions the fact that he once saw thirty or forty 

 individuals assembled around the carcass of a dead bullock, "some gorged to the 

 full, perched upon the neighboring trees, the rest still in the enjoyment of the 

 feast." The nests are of large size and composed of sticks and branches and 

 placed in very high trees, often more than a hundred feet from the ground. The 

 eggs are similar to those of the Golden Eagle. As this species often commits 

 extensive ravages among the lambs on the sheep ranges, it is killed by the stock- 

 owners whenever and by whatever means possible. 



The Hawk-Eagles. Also members of this subfamily are the so-called 

 Hawk-Eagles (Eutolmaetus) of the Old World. They are smaller and rather 

 more slender than the true Eagle, and have relatively longer and more slender 

 tarsi, as well as longer tails, and most of them are partly or wholly white beneath, 

 at least in some phase of the plumage. They have moderately long but strong 

 and much hooked bills, long wings, and nearly square tails, while the toes are 

 long and furnished with large, sharp, well-curved talons. Of the four species, 

 perhaps the best known is Bonelli's Eagle (. fasciatus), which ranges from the 

 Mediterranean countries east to the Indian peninsula. The male is twenty- 

 seven and the female twenty-nine inches long, and when mature they have the upper 

 parts dark umber-brown with the bases of the feathers white, while the sides 

 of the head and upper tail-coverts are whitish and the lower parts white with 

 black shaft stripes, the young being paler above and more or less rufous or buff 

 below. This fine Eagle is quite abundant in British India and is often seen 

 sailing at a considerable height or sitting on a high tree or rock. Unlike some of 

 those first described, Bonelli's Eagle captures its own prey and is never known 

 to feed on carrion. It subsists on mammals and birds and is described as being 

 very destructive to domestic fowls and especially to Pigeons, rarely failing to 

 secure one from every flock it strikes at. In India it is known as the "Mohrangi," 

 or Peacock-killer, on account of its propensity for killing the Peafowl. The nest 

 by preference is placed on a ledge of a precipitous cliff, but occasionally in trees, 

 and is usually a very bulky affair, sometimes including as much as half a ton of 



