60 Falconidw. 



nest have often testified, converted during the breeding season 

 by these insatiable marauders into a well-filled larder. 



Of the different species of eagles, the ' Golden' one (Aquila, 

 chrysaetos) is generally considered the first, as it is the boldest 

 and most active, as well as the largest ; and I had hoped to 

 have enumerated it among the birds of Wilts, in consequence of 

 a notice which appeared in the Berkshire Chronicle and the 

 Zoologist, in January, 1847, to the effect that a fine specimen of 

 this species had been killed by the gamekeeper at Littlecote, 

 who discovered it feeding on a dead doe, and so gorged with 

 venison as to be unable to fly off. On inquiry, however, I learnt 

 from Mr. Popham that the species was mistaken, and that it was 

 the ' Cinereous ' or ' White- tailed' (not the Golden) eagle, which 

 was killed in his park. The confusion seems to have arisen from 

 the unwonted size of the specimen, its length being 37 inches, 

 and its breadth from tip to tip of the extended wings 8 feet, a 

 very unusual magnitude for this species. There is, however, 

 in addition to the fulvous or golden plumage of the one, and the 

 white tail of the other (whence their specific names), an un- 

 failing mark of distinction by which these two species of eagles 

 may be distinguished at all ages, which I will give in the words 

 of Mr. Yarrell : ' In the foot of the Golden Eagle each toe is 

 covered with small reticulations as far as the last phalanx, 

 then with three broad scales. In the foot of the White- tailed 

 Eagle the reticulations are confined to the tarsus, the whole 

 length of each toe being covered with broad scales.' But the 

 Golden Eagle is a very much rarer bird so far south, and indeed 

 is almost unknown in these latitudes ; and I am inclined with 

 the late Mr. Knox, the talented author of ' Ornithological 

 Rambles in Sussex/ to regard with considerable suspicion the 

 announcement in local papers, which of late have frequently 

 caught my eye, of the occurrence of the Golden Eagle in the 

 neighbouring counties of Somerset and Berks. But though I 

 have no authentic instance of the Golden Eagle as a voluntary 

 visitor to Wiltshire, I had oftentimes the pleasure of seeing a 

 magnificent specimen of this bird in confinement at Spye Park, 



