18 FALCONID A. 
following manner: one of these birds makes a loud rustl- 
ing noise by a violent beating of its wings against bushes 
and shrubs, while the other remains in ambush at a short 
distance watching for anything that may appear. A rabbit 
or a hare if driven out, is immediately pounced upon, and 
the prey thus obtained is shared with its companion. 
The whole length of an adult male Golden Eagle is 
nearly three feet; the adult female is still larger. The 
beak is bluish horn colour, darkest at the tip; the cere 
yellow ; the skin of the lore tinged with blue; the irides 
hazel, the pupils black; the feathers on the top of the 
head and back of the neck pointed in shape, and rufous 
brown: the general colour of the plumage of the body 
dark brown, the chin and throat particularly so; the wing- 
primaries nearly black, the secondaries brownish black ; 
the wing-coverts reddish brown, varied with dark brown: 
the feathers of the belly and thighs bay; those of the tail 
varied with two shades of brown, the ends dark: the legs 
covered with bay feathers; the toes yellow and reticulated, 
except the last or distal joint of each toe, which is covered 
with three broad scales; the claws are black, the outer 
claw of each foot the smallest of the four. 
In a younger specimen of the Golden Eagle with the 
basal or proximal half of the tail white, the feathers on 
the back of the neck were less rufous, and the general 
colour of the plumage on the body and wings more uni- 
form, and darker. In this state it is the Ring-tailed 
HKagle of authors. White varieties of the Golden Eagle 
have been seen and recorded. 
The foot of the Golden Eagle is so distinctly marked 
from that of the White-tailed, or Cinereous Eagle, as to 
afford the means of deciding between our two British 
Hagles at any age; and the three anterior toes of both 
