WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. ; 21 
Halieétus ubicilla, Cinereous Sea Eagle, SELBY, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 18. 
Aquila % op Eagle, Jenyns, Brit. Vert. An. p. 80. 
Halieétus 4, Sea Eagle, Goutp, Birds of Europe, pt. ix. 
Falco op Aigle pygargue, Tem. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 49. 
HaAuiaetus. Generic Characters—Beak elongated, strong, straight at the 
base, curving in a regular arc in advance of the cere to the tip, and forming a 
deep hook. The upper ridge broad and rather flattened. Edges of the upper 
mandible slightly prominent behind the commencement of the hook. Nostrils 
large, transversely placed in the cere, and of a lunated shape. Wings ample ; 
the fourth quill-feather the longest. Legs having the tarsi half-feathered ; the 
front of the naked part scutellated, and the sides and back reticulated. Toes 
divided to their origin; the outer one versatile. Claws strong and hooked, 
grooved beneath ; the claw of the hind toe larger than that of the inner, which 
again exceeds that of the middle and outer toes. 
Mr. Sexsy considers the White-tailed Hagle as gene- 
rically distinct from the Golden Eagle; and the generic 
characters attributed to it by that gentleman in his or- 
nithological work are therefore inserted here. Other dis- 
tinguished naturalists have stated the same opmion. In 
the greater length of its beak, in being less particular in 
the nature and quality of its food, in its more sluggish 
habits and comparative want of courage, it has some re- 
semblance to the Vultures. 
As a species, it is much more common than the Golden 
Kagle, and on some parts of the coast may be seen fre- 
quently, It inhabits the high rocks and cliffs that over- 
hang the sea, from whence it keeps a look-out, and when 
hungry is equally ready to seize either fowl or fish, and 
has been seen to attack and feed on seals. It also evinces 
a great partiality for fawns and venison, beimg occasicnally 
killed in deer-parks and forests. Epping Forest, near 
London, and the New Forest, in Hampshire, are recorded 
as localities in which it has been shot—in the latter in 
several successive years; and Mr. Selby, in his Catalogue 
of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham, printed in 
the Transactions of the Natural History Society of New- 
