The Eagles. '"9 



Familv—FAf. CONIDAi. 



The Eagles. 



THE Eagles on the British list comprise representatives of the genera Aquila 

 and Haliactus. Dresser states that there are twelve species known of 

 Aqni/a, the true Eagles, to be readily distinguished by their feathered tarsi ; eight 

 are found in the western Palsearctic Region, two of these, the Golden Eagle, still 

 resident in Scotland, and the Spotted Eagle, a rare occasional visitor to this 

 country from the Continent, will have to be described. Of the genus Haliactus, 

 the fish-taking Eagles, seven species are known ; two only belong to the Western 

 Palsearctic Region, and but one of them, the White-tailed Eagle, once a common 

 resident on the wilder coasts of Ireland and Scotland, but now almost exterminated, 

 belongs to the British Ornis. In Haliactus the tarsi are bare of feathers. 



The Eagles are powerfully built, compact, broad-shouldered birds, with short 

 necks, having the head round and much flattened on the top ; with strong beaks, 

 either a little shorter than, or about the length of the head, decur\'ed at the end, 

 the upper mandible with a slight festoon ; wings very long, the fourth quill the 

 longest ; tail rather long and rounded ; very muscular thighs and legs, with ver\- 

 stout toes, covered with round scales, and scutellated towards the end ; strong, 

 curved, and very acute claws. They chiefly inhabit mountains, forests, and wastes ; 

 the fishing Eagles are not found far from the sea, or from large inland lakes and 

 rivers ; their flight, like that of the Buzzards, is generally heav}-, and not far 

 above the ground, when they are searching for their prey, which the}- pounce 

 upon, not often pursuing it in the air; they are fond of soaring in circles at a 

 great height, remaining a long time on wing. The}^ nest earl}- in the year on 

 crags or trees, building enormous nests of sticks, lined with grass. The Eagles 

 do not possess the nobility ascribed to them by the fancy of poets, being of little 

 courage, rarely attacking any other bird that would offer resistance, content to 

 feed on defenceless mammals, and not unseldom upon carrion. 



Vol. Ill 



