5136 THE ZooLoGist—NovemMBER, 1876. 
herring, for the purpose of catching a gull, the bait was spied and 
pounced upon by the eagle; and the hook becoming fixed in the 
inside of his foot, he was found, by the boys upon their return to 
examine their line, floating on the surface of the water. They 
immediately went off in a boat and completed their capture without 
much difficulty.” (Zool. 1301). 
Perhaps a word or two may be useful to those who have an 
eagle in confinement. The aviary must be kept as clean as 
possible. Then as regards the food, it is always better with the 
hair or feathers on: a live rat is acceptable,—though not so much 
so as a dead one,—and an eagle will prove himself an adept in 
securing this kind of prey: a dead sparrow will be swallowed 
whole, and a herring—one of those loudly commended to our 
notice as “fine fresh herrings”—will be swallowed with great 
gusto: if fresh meat be offered to the captive, it should be trailed 
through gravel or sand: he will swallow an odoriferous herring 
with any amount of bird-sand adhering to it. Skin, feathers, 
scales and bones will be ejected from the stomach in masses 
almost equal to a hen’s egg in size. Lastly, about the bath: 
on no account neglect to keep the captive eagle abundantly 
supplied with pure cold water in which he can bathe ad 
libitum. No protection against wind and rain appears to be 
required: Nature does not drive the prose eagle into secret 
caverns or deep recesses of the rock: he is a stranger to all 
solicitude about temperature. 
Three species of eagles inhabit Britain: one of these has the leg 
bare of feathers to just below the knee; this is the sea eagle or 
white-tailed eagle: the toes of this species, as well as the front 
of the leg, are covered by large and nearly uniform scales: when 
perfectly adult his tail is pure white: he scientific name is Aquila 
albicilla. The other two have the leg clothed with feathers to the 
division of the toes, and each toe has three large scales at the 
extremity only, the other portion of the toe being covered with a 
network of much smaller scales: the tail in these two species is 
never white. But the two birds differ so greatly in size that this 
character alone at once distinguishes them: the larger is the golden 
eagle; its scientific name is Aquila chrysaétus: the smaller is the 
spotted eagle, so called from each feather on the back and wings 
being tipped with white; its scientific name is Aquila nevia. 
