THE WHITE-HEADED SEA-EAGLE. 



Ha liaetus le vcoce phal vs. 



In the earlier stages of its growth there is little to 

 distinguish this noble bird from the Great Sea-Eagle 

 described in the preceding article. So obscure in fact 

 are the characters that separate the two species at this 

 period of their existence that M. Vieillot, carrying still 

 farther the principle advanced by M. Frederic Cuvier, 

 and following the example of M. Daudin, has ventured, 

 with a degree of inconsiderateness which could scarcely 

 have been expected from so practised an ornithologist, 

 to unite the White-headed Eagle to the list of syno- 

 nyms which combine to form the common species. 

 That such a union is founded upon insufficient data is 

 proved by the gradual developement in the bird now 

 under consideration of a character which, after a cer- 

 tain age, at once distinguishes it from the remainder of 



