488 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 
IV. 
THE many opportunities that I have had of studying the 
great Sea-Hagle (Haliaétus albicilla), the largest of all our 
eagles, lead me to believe that I can furnish some notes con- 
cerning it which may not be wholly uninteresting to many 
of my readers. 
The Sea-Eagle is the best known eagle of our country, 
although it breeds in so few of its districts; for it is very 
widely distributed, and one may safely say that, with the ex- 
ception of the Alps, every part of Austria is yearly visited 
by this bird in the course of its wanderings. It is the com- 
monest of our eagles, but in most places merely appears at 
certain seasons of the year, and there are only a few southern 
localities where it is more than a winter bird, a passing guest 
on its travels. 
The western parts of Austria are for the Sea-Hagle merely 
winter-quarters. It visits them on its long journeys, which 
begin in autumn and continue until about the middle of 
March. It may be met with during the winter months 
throughout Central Europe, excepting the high mountains. 
These it shuns, or at most just touches them on its migrations. 
During my many rambles through all the Alpine districts of 
Austria I never saw a Sea-Hagle, and have only heard of one 
being killed within the last few years. It was shot in the 
range of the northern limestone Alps, and was a very power- 
ful young bird, which frequented the shores of the lake of 
Gmunden and the most northerly spurs of those mountains 
for three weeks. From time to time it flew a little way up 
the Traun, towards the interior of the hills, and after doing 
much damage among the ducks and other waterfowl of the 
