THE WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE. 295 



a somewhat slenderer make, and of the wedge-shaped 

 termination of the tail (the middle feathers of which 

 exceed the outermost by about four inches), is exactly 

 that of the Golden Eagle of the European Alps ; and 

 the size not much inferior. The wings extend consi- 

 derably beyond the middle of the tail. In all these 

 particulars our bird very closely coincides with the 

 Netherlands specimen, described by M. Temminck as 

 being of a blackish soot-colour, with the back of the 

 head and greater part of the neck Isabella yellow 

 spotted with brown, and dark brown edges to the 

 wing-coverts. It agrees also with another bird which 

 has not previously been suspected to belong to this 

 species, the Mountain Eagle of Collins' Account of the 

 English Colony in New South Wales, published in 

 1802, and containing therefore the earliest indication 

 of the Wedge-tailed Eagle. In the figure there given 

 the likeness is strikingly accurate in every particular, 

 setting aside the wedge-shaped termination of the tail, 

 which seems to have been overlooked. The size and 

 form of the bird, together with its uniform sooty colour, 

 excepting on the back of the head and margins of the 

 wing-coverts, which are brown, are fully sufficient to 

 determine its identity with the species now under 

 consideration. 



In M. Temminck's figure, which represents a bird 

 regarded by him as a female, and which was probably 

 also young, the colouring of the entire plumage is much 

 brighter, being of a dusky brown, mixed on different 

 parts with shades of a lighter brown ; and having the 

 throat dusky, the head and back of the neck of a 

 bright brown, and the wings variegated by a mixture 

 of lighter and deeper shades of brown. The tail too 

 is marked beneath with indistinct bands on a fawn- 

 coloured ground : and all its quills terminate in a nar- 

 row reddish border. 



