GILPIN ON THE EAGLES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 203 



This noble bird is rare in our Province ; perhaps six specimens 

 may be all I have studied. The late Dr. VanBuskirk kept one in 

 confinement several years. Mr. Downs had a pair trapped in the 

 Eastern Counties. I saw two mounted specimens at St. John, N. 

 B. ; and Mr. Egan mounted a very fine one, killed at Pictou by a 

 woman. The adult bird is easily distinguished, and in the young 

 the feathered tarsi, absence of scutellation on the tarsi, paler colour, 

 and less robust, or as it were, less fatty look of legs and toes, dis- 

 tinguish it from the young of the bald. The most distinguishing 

 mark in those I have seen was the prolongation of the loose feathers 

 or hackles from the front and sides of the head to the shoulders. 

 These, tipped with pale golden, and semi-erect, gave the bird a 

 handsome crest, and added much to the intrepid look and stern eye, 

 brow, and well curved, well hooked beak. The other parts were 

 deep liver brown, the primaries black, and the shoulders rather 

 lighter than the back. The tails had always more or less of yel- 

 lowish white on the lower surface, making an indistinct crescent, 

 its head towards the vent. In this they resembled Bewick's beauti- 

 ful wood-cut of the Ring-tailed Eagle. The whole plumage was 

 closer and finer than the bald's, the motion quicker, usually in short 

 jumps, with less of that side to side walk, with head pushed 

 forward, tail kept off the ground, and wagging, that the bald 

 indulges in. 



The young of this species are described by various authors as be- 

 ing more or less light ferruginous, with white marks and blotches 

 upon the tail, which marks form a white crescent, but disappear with 

 years. In Mr. Egan's specimen there was no white on the tail 

 coverts, and none beneath, or any crescentic marks, but there was a 

 little ash colour inside of the thighs. The one kept by Dr. VanBus- 

 kirk showed great ferocity. It attacked anybody approaching it, 

 striking their legs and ancles with its talons. Unless you had a 

 stout stick in your hand, your calfskin boot would soon be ripped 

 from your ancles. This same bird pounced upon and seized a large 

 tom-cat that was attracted under his perch by the fragments of meat 

 dropped about, and immediately devoured it, paying not the slight- 

 est heed to its frantic cries and desperate contortions. In its aus- 

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