S04 GILPIN ON THE EAGLES OF NOVA SCOTIA- 



tere, intrepid eye and brow, with swelling and golden crest, it far 

 exceeded the Bald Eagle. 



Mr. Winton, who has taken a pair by trap, thinks they breed in 

 the Eastern counties. The best ornithologists of the day consider 

 this eagle common to the Northern parts of Europe, Asia and 

 America, and under the name of Golden Eagle, to include the vari- 

 ous synonyms of King and Ring-tailed Eagles, Fulvus Eagles, and 

 Eaofle of the Ancients. 



The Bald Eagle. 



Halieatus leiicocephalus^ (Linn., Baird.) 



This fine bird is common to the Province, and breeds in our se- 

 cluded forests and rocky coasts. But it is so often seen in its im- 

 mature plumage, in which it has been confounded not only with the 

 last, but also with the Sea Eagle of Europe (H. albicella), that I 

 think it best to study its various immature plumages before giving 

 the adult. Systematic writers have also concluded that Audubon 

 has not succeeded in making a true species of H. Washingtoniensis, 

 and that it is only the young of this species. 



The prevailing colour of the smaller of a pair shot upon the 

 grounds of Wm. Cunard, Esq., was dark sepia brown on back, 

 head, neck, breast and lower parts ; the brown a little lighter on 

 shoulders, and still more so on the tail coverts, which were some- 

 what soiled or splotched with white; tail above dark brown, 

 beneath the same, except the inner vanes, light brown, and the 

 inside of the tail feathers becoming white as they entered the vent, 

 which was also white. The long brown feathers covering the thigh 

 had a little white. The chin and throat were white, well streaked 

 with brown. All the loose feathers or hackles covering the neck, 

 both back and front, were white inside, with black tips, but it was 

 only on the front that the white showed through, the back showing 

 brown. The primaries and secondaries were dark brown, and there 

 was a good deal of white inside the wing, the bill bluish black, the 

 cere yellow, and irides brownish. The bill was l3ss rounded in its 

 contour, shorter, and with less elongated hook than the adult. The 

 legs were bright yellow, very robust, with a thick, fatty look. There 



