GILPIN ON THE EAGLES OF NOVA SCOTIA. 207 



though nearly every specimen has five lateral scales upon the front 

 yet in some they are so small and obsolete, that they have to » 

 looked for, whilst in others they are very large, and extend nearl) 

 to the joints of the front toes, as in Audubon's figure. This difie 

 rence is especially to be noticed, because Audubon makes '* scutel- 

 lation on tarsi and toes continuous with their length," a specific 

 mark of his great Brown Eagle H. washingtoniensis, and he 

 figures it so in his great work. Subsequent writers as Cassim and 

 Baird have denied that it can be so, and indeed one cannot get 

 over the anatomical fact that no great scales can cover a joint, or 

 that the hind toe, if even the three front ones might, would be 

 incapable of a continuous scutellation ; yet we have a satisfaction in 

 showing, I think for the first time, a very marked approximation to 

 Audubon's figure. As regards the other specific marks of the 

 Washington eagle, — of his folded wing not reaching to the end of 

 his tail, — of his nesting in cliffs instead of trees, our young balds 

 possess them both. 



16th June, 1873. — I examined a young bald. I supposed it to 

 be about two weeks old. It was covered with thick yellow down. 

 The primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries in pin feather, and about 

 two inches long, were sepia brown with lighter tips. The spurious 

 feathers were also showing. There were three or four dark spots 

 on the back, and the tail feathers just showing, all the rest yellow- 

 ish down. The legs were pale yellow ; there were twelve scutellae 

 on the front of the tarsus, about twenty on the middle toe, and the 

 back of the tarsus was also scutellated. The bill was yellow tipped 

 with black on both mandibles, but the curve little developed and 

 resembling that of the turkey buzzard. The length of the body 

 from tip of bill to tail, eleven inches, and thigh and outstretched 

 leo^ to toe cio^ht inches. 



This bird was sent me from Digby county by my son. The 

 great development in number of the scutellae and their appearance 

 upon the back of the tarsus, in what may almost be called the 

 embryo, and also the striking resemblance in the head and bill to 

 the carrion buzzards, are both prominent facts in regarding scutel- 

 lation as temporary and non-typical, and also in Agassiz's theory of 

 the young resembling the next lower type. 



