306 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



birds is very remarkable. That which is evidently the 

 older, but probably only by a single year, has the 

 feathers of the head, neck, and under parts, including 

 the under tail-coverts, nearly of a pure white. The 

 shoulders, part of the back, and a patch extending 

 along the middle of each wing, are brownish ash- 

 coloured ; while the rest of the back, the wing-coverts, 

 and the quill-feathers of the wings, are dusky brown, 

 approaching to black. The tail, the extremity of which 

 is just visible beyond the closed wings, is black at the 

 base, with a broad band of white at the tip. The beak 

 is of a uniform horn-colour, without any mixture of 

 black ; the cere grayish ; the cheeks light flesh-coloured; 

 the iris pale yellow ; the legs dingy white ; and the 

 claws black. In the younger specimen, the naked 

 cheeks remain less distinctly circumscribed ; the bill 

 and cere are more dusky, the former still retaining a 

 darker band along its ridge; the iris is somewhat 

 lighter; the general colour is of a dull ashy-brown, 

 lighter on the back of the head and beneath, and 

 showing some tendency to become whitish on these 

 latter parts; and the quill-feathers are dusky brown. 

 In this bird the wings exceed the tail in length by two 

 or three inches. The gape of the mandibles is full 

 two inches ; their depth at the base more than three 

 quarters of an inch ; and the point of the upper descends 

 for nearly half an inch beyond that of the lower. We 

 should guess the entire length of the birds at from 

 eighteen to twenty inches. 



In manners these birds resemble the genuine Eagles, 

 having the same upright attitude, subsisting entirely 

 upon flesh, and refusing fish if ofi'ered to them. 



