WHITE-TAILED OR SEA EAGLE. 3 
WHITE-TAILED OR SEA EAGLE. 
Haiatus aupiciuta, Linn. 
Pl. L., fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr —Entire Palearctic Region; in Asia, southwards to 
India and China; also N. Africa; formerly local but not rare, and 
resident, in Great Britain, but now rarely seen in the summer. 
Food. — Fish, birds, young animals, as lambs, fawns, &c., and 
sometimes carrion. 
Nest.—A massive structure of sticks, lined with straws, plant-stalks, 
dried grass and moss. 
Position of nest.—Generally near the coast, on a bare rock, or in 
lofty pine or other tree. 
Number of eggs.—2. 
Time of nidification.—1V-V. 
The nest of one of these Eagles, discovered many years 
ago in Norway, by Mr. Hewitson, ‘‘ was placed in a hollow 
of the rock, and was composed of a large mass of sticks, 
and appeared to be thickly lined with soft materials”; this 
nest contained an unhatched egg and a young eaglet. 
The Sea Eagle used formerly to breed in not a few 
localities in the British Isles, such as Westmoreland, 
Cumberland, the Isle of Man, Dumfriesshire, East Galloway, 
on Ailsa Craig and the Bass Rock. It still breeds in the 
Highlands and the islands off the Scotch coast, but, as 
already stated, it is far more rare than formerly; the bird, 
however, is not uncommon on our coasts, especially in the 
autumn and winter months; it is mobbed as soon as it 
appears by flocks of Gulls, and when it ventures inland is 
similarly accompanied by Rooks. 
The nest is said to be very similar to that of the Golden 
Eagle, but the eggs are of a pure white colour; that which 
I have figured is in the collection of Mr. Dresser, as also is 
the egg of the Golden Eagle upon the same Plate; an egg, 
said to be that of H. albicilla, in my collection, is of a 
more elongated shape than usual, and, as I do not know its 
history, it would not have been safe to figure it. 
This bird differs from the preceding species in its bare 
tarsus, and in having eight scales on the first to third toe 
and nine on the middle toe. 
