14 FALCONIDjE. 



Parker* took a portrait of the little eagle while I had it for a 

 short time, and mentioned a singular coincidence. When on a 

 visit to Mr. Butler of Waterville, a few days before the bird came 

 under his inspection, that gentleman had mentioned a small brown 

 eagle, in all respects like a golden eagle, except in being about 

 half the size, as frequenting the mountains above Cahirciveen, in 

 Kerry : — he had seen it occasionally during the last seven or 

 eight years. To the Rev. Mr. Bastable, a clergyman of the 

 neighbourhood, it was likewise known." I have little doubt, also, 

 that a bird particularly described to myself, when visiting Horn 

 Head (Donegal), in 1832, as having been shot there the previous 

 year, was of this species. 



The Spotted Eagle has not been met with in England or 

 Scotland. In Continental Europe, it appears to inhabit chiefly 

 the east and south ; but has been obtained in most of the countries 

 southward of the Baltic Sea, including Belgium and France. 



THE SEA EAGLE. 

 White-tailed Eagle. 



Haliaetos albicilla, Briss. (sp.) 

 Falco ossifragus, Linn. 



Is found in suitable localities throughout Ireland, and is 

 resident. 



Distribution, Eyries, Habits, Sfc. 

 The first Sea Eagle I had the satisfaction of seeing in Ireland, 

 was on the 25th June, 1832, when visiting the majestic promon- 

 tory of Horn Head (Donegal), which rises precipitously from the 

 ocean to an elevation of nearly 600 feet. On looking over the 

 cliff on the eastern side, one of these birds rose from a platform 

 of rock about sixty yards distant. Immediately afterwards, on 

 reaching the northern side, I perceived another sitting on her 

 nest, about a fourth of the way from the summit of the precipice; 



* A gentleman whose splendid collection of coloured drawings of native birds, 

 mostly life-size, and all executed by liimself, attracted great admiration in the Natural 

 History Section of the British Association at Cork, iu 1843. 



