56 



ROYAL EAGLE. 



P Falco regalis. F. fuscus, albo m'groque maculatus, suhtus albuS f 



occipite subcristato, cauda griseo-fasciata. 

 Brown Eagle, with black and white spots ; beneath white j 



the head slightly crested, and the tail barred with grey. 

 L'Ouira Ouassou. Sonnini Buff, 



Monsieur Sonnini, in his edition of the Count 

 de Buffon's Natural History, describes and figures 

 this bird from a Portuguese manuscript com- 

 municated to Monsieur Condamine by an eccle- 

 siastical correspondent at Para in Brazil. 



It is a bird of great beauty, having an elegantly 

 varied plumage, and commanding attitudes. Its 

 size is double that of an Eagle; its head large, and 

 furnished with a crest in form of a casque: the 

 bill long; the eyes bright and piercing; the nos- 

 trils large, and beset with hair on each side the 

 bill: the neck thick; the legs naked, scaly, and 

 reddish : the claws black, crooked, and of the 

 length of the middle finger : the back, wings, and 

 tail are brown, spotted with black, and variegated 

 with whitish or yellowish streaks; the belly white, 

 the feathers being very soft, and equal in elegance 

 to those of an Egret. It flies with majestic ra- 

 pidity, and such is the expanse of its wings, that 

 it sometimes strikes and kills its prey with them 

 before it touches it with its claws. Its strength 

 is such as to enable it to tear in pieces in an instant 

 the largest sheep, and it pursues indiscriminately 

 all kind of wild animals. It even dares to attack 



