FALCOXIDJE. 151 



lambs. These birds were seen by some friends of ours when out with 

 the hounds, on several occasions, and appear to have gone off uniniured. 



Specimens of the White-tailed Eagle are very often recorded as Golden 

 Eagles, and we have ourselves detected them as incorrectly labelled with 

 the name of that bird, which only through stress or accident wanders away 

 from its mountain fastness. Col. Montagu wrote : — " We have had two 

 or three specimens of Ossifrrtf/a [the name he gave to the immature Sea- 

 Eagle] sent to us for the Chri/saetos," The points of distinction between 

 the two species are so great that it is surprising any confusion can arise 

 between them, and that this mistake should so continually recur. The 

 best and simplest of these differences are the feathered tarsi of the Golden 

 Eagle, and the bare tarsi of the 8ea-Eagle. If you have an Eagle with 

 feet feathered like a Grouse, then you maj' be positive that your bird is 

 not a 8ea-Eagle, and may, probably, be a Golden Eagle. 



The Sea-Eagle was, in all likelihood, the species which bred at the 

 Dewerstone Rock on the Plym, near Plymouth, as already mentioned 

 under the Golden Eagle. Polwhele, in his ' History of Devonshire ' (vol. i. 

 chap. vi. p. lUl), mentions a "' black Eagle"' as formerly having a nest in 

 the woods of Eggesford (a corruption of Eaglesford ?)*, and states it to 

 have been fre(juently seen on the Moor. Probably it was the present 

 species, or, more likely still, a Common Buzzard, in old days often caUcd 

 "the Eagle" in Devonshire, though Polwhele speaks of its having the basal 

 part of the tail white, as in the young of the Golden Eagle, apparently 

 not from his own observation, but following Pennant. 



Dr. E. Moore records '' a specimen caught near the Eddystone, whicli 

 was kept alive some years by the late Addis Archer, Esi]., at Leigham, 

 near Plymouth. In the summer of 1832 one was frequently seen l)y the 

 gentlemen of the hunt, hovering over Dartmoor, and in October of that 

 year a fine specimen, probably the same, was shot near Kingsbridge l)y 

 W. Elliot, Esq., in whose possession it still remains " (Mag. Xat. lEi^t. 

 1S37). ^Ir. Edmund A. S. Elliot informs us that amongst the birds 

 of prey collected by his late father, Mr. J. Elliot of Kingsbridge, is a bird 

 of this species, which was obtained by him in the flesh from a man who 

 shot it in Hahvell Wood. This was in the year 1832, and the specimen 

 is, without doubt, the same as that mentioned by Dr. Moore as above. 



One shot in 1834, near Bridestowo, was in Drew's collec! ion (E. M., 

 op. cit.). A specimen was captured alive at Hols worthy. North Devon, 

 its feet having become entangled in a furze bush, and was brought alive to 

 Exeter, whore it was exhibited for some time by its captors. We saw 

 this bird in .lanuar)- IS-'ifj, and recorded its occurrence in the ' Zoologist ' 

 for May IS.jH, p. 'j()'.)*'). One, in immature plumage, was killed b)' 



* Lord Portsimontli siigf^Rsts that, possibly, Ef^gresford iiiny ho derived from ccclrKui, 

 owint; to some atu-ieiit, climvli or cliapcl bciiij^ sitiiiited iit llmt ]ilnce, ainHnstimees 

 ]']i-ck-(;liiri', on the burdc.-rs of Vorksliirc and Oiirhmn, now called EaKlesilitl'e. ilr. K. 

 Edmunds, in ' Traees of History in tlie names of Places,' says: " Ivj;>;esford (T)evon), 

 tlie lord of I'-pjjn, tlie owner's name" In a Saxon doeiniient relating to C'rediton in 

 tlie Uriti>li .Miisfum. Cotton Roll II. 11, tlio name of .T'llielgar, Uisliop of L'redilon, is 

 written /v/yr and lijijvr. 



