34 



CRESTED, OR HARPY EAGLE. 



and haunts rivers and lakes for the sake of the finny prey which they contain. The color of 

 this bird is nearly white, diversified with a broad band of brown that passes over the back, 

 wings, and the space around the eyes, and is prolonged into a belt that surrounds the neck, so 

 that the bird looks as if it had been wrapped in a brown mantle fastened under the throat. The 

 tail is banded alternately witli brown and white. The wings of this species are not very long, 

 and the beak is short. The tarsus is also short, and is covered in part with net-like markings. 

 The head is surmounted with a crest, composed of long, narrow feathers, which pass over the 

 head and droop gracefully until they reach the back of the neck. 



A small number of the Falconidse are remarkable for their long tarsi, feathered below 

 the heel, their long, even tail, and the union of the outer claws by a membranous skin. The 



Jean le Blanc Eagle, so called 

 on account of the generally white 

 color of its plumage, is a good 

 example of this genus, which in- 

 cludes the bacha, the cheela, and 

 other so-called Eagles. 



The color of the Jean le Blanc 

 Eagle is white, speckled with 

 brown spots, and diversified on 

 the back with brown. The white, 

 however, predominates largely, 

 and even in the back and wings, 

 the bases of the feathers are 

 white. The tail is darker than 

 the rest of the plumage, being 

 of a light gray-brown, bailed 

 with dark brown. The long tarsi 

 and toes are blue, and the claws 

 are black. The length of the 

 bird is about thirty inches, but 

 the expanse of its wings is not 

 so proportionally great as in the 

 osprey. As the birds of this 

 genus possess several character- 

 istics of the Eagles, and others 

 of the ospreys, they are supposed 

 with justice to form a connecting 

 link between the genera Aquila 

 and Pandion. The Jean le Blanc 

 is spread over considerable por- 

 tions of Asia and Europe. 



The food of this bird con- 

 sists chiefly of snakes, frogs, rats, mice, and insects, and it is generally found haunting the 

 low forest lands where such creatures most abound. Its nest is of considerable dimensions, 

 and is generally built on the summit of some lofty tree. The eggs are either two or three in 

 number, and are of a pure, spotless gray. 



After many attempts to associate the Crested, or Harpy Eagle, with any other bird in 

 some acknowledged genus, systematic zoologists have at last been obliged to consider it a 

 family or single genus in itself, under the appropriate title of Thrasaetus, or Courageous 

 Eagle. 



The most obvious external characteristic which serve to distinguish this species is the 

 manner in which the feathers of the head and neck are arranged, so as to form a bold ruff or 



JEAN LE BLANC EAGLE. (Circaetus gatticus.) 



