Kites. Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



Golden Eagle 



( Aquila chrysaetos) 



Called also: RING-TAILED EAGLE; MOUNTAIN EAGLE; 

 WAR EAGLE 



Length — Male 30 to 35 inches; female 5 inches longer. 



Male and Female — Back of the head and nape pale yellow; lower 

 two-thirds of tail white, leaving a broad, dark band across 

 end; legs entirely feathered with white; rest of plumage 

 dusky brown. Immature birds are similar, darker; base of 

 tail has broken grayish bars, and feathers on legs and under 

 tail coverts are buff. Perfect plumage not developed under 

 three years. Birds "grow gray" with age. 



Range — North America, south to Mexico; nesting within United 

 States, Europe, and Northern Asia. 



Season — Permanent resident. 



" He clasps the crag with hooked hands; 

 Close to the sun, in lonely lands, 

 Ringed with the azure world he stands. 

 The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls: 

 He watches from his mountain walls. 

 And like a thunderbolt he falls." 



— Tennyson, 



Restricted chiefly to the mountainous parts of unsettled 

 regions on three continents, this magnificent bird is best known 

 on this one to the Indians, who write no bird books, however. 

 It is their emblem for whatever is courageous, fierce, and suc- 

 cessful in war. All birds of prey typify these qualities to the 

 Indian mind, it is true, but the eagle stands at the lead; its feath- 

 ers, fit head-dress for any chief, were chosen to inspire him with 

 the bird's prowess. The buzzards and eagles represent their old 

 men — those sages who have little hair, or those whose locks are 

 white — hence to these birds have the secrets and the wisdom of 

 ages been confided, and a respect akin to worship is shown 

 them. What the imperial eagle meant to the terrorized ancients 

 we can little guess in these days of democratic ideals. From the 

 bird's majestic soaring, what more natural than to suppose it 

 communicated directly with the gods on Mount Olympus, and 

 was Jove's favored messenger ? Certain Asiatic tribes believe 



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