Class II. GOLDEN EAGLE. 199 



- hold afar off:* the head and neck are clothed 

 with narrow sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep 

 brown color, bordered with tawny ; the hind part 

 of the head in particular is of a bright rust-color. 

 The whole body, above as well as beneath, is 

 of a dark brown, and the feathers on the back 

 are finely clouded with a deeper shade of the 

 same: the wings, when closed, reach to the end 

 of the tail ; the quil feathers are of a chocolate 

 color, the shafts white : the tail is of a deep 

 brown, irregularly barred and blotched with an 

 obscure ash color, and usually white at the roots 

 of the feathers : the legs are yellow, short, and 

 very strong, being three inches in circumference, 

 and are feathered to the very feet : the toes are 

 covered with large scales, and armed with most 

 formidable claws, the middle of which are two 

 inches long. 



Eagles in general are very destructive to 

 fawns, lambs, kids, and all kind of game ; parti- 

 cularly in the breeding season, when they bring 

 a vast quantity of prey to their young. Smith, 

 in his history of Kerry, relates that a poor man 

 in that county got a comfortable subsistence for 

 his family, during a summer of famine, out of 



* /oZ) xxxix. 9. Where the natural history of the eagle is 

 finely drawn up. '^ 



