THE EAGLES. Og 
Family—FALCONIDA. 
THE EAGLES. 
HE Eagles on the British list comprise representatives of the genera Aguila 
and AHaliattus. Dresser states that there are twelve species known of 
Aguila, the true Eagles, to be readily distinguished by their feathered tarsi; eight 
are found in the western Palearctic Region, two of these, the Golden Eagle, still 
-resident in Scotland, and the Spotted Eagle, a rare occasional visitor to this 
country from the Continent, will have to be described. Of the genus Hadiaétus, 
the fish-taking Eagles, seven species are known; two only belong to the Western 
Palearctic Region, and but one of them, the White-tailed Eagle, once a common 
resident on the wilder coasts of Ireland and Scotland, but now almost exterminated, 
belongs to the British Ornis. In Hadsactus the tarsi are bare of feathers. 
The Eagles are powerfully built, compact, broad-shouldered birds, with short 
necks, having the head round and much flattened on the top; with strong beaks, 
either a little shorter than, or about the length of the head, decurved at the end, 
the upper mandible with a slight festoon; wings very long, the fourth quill the 
longest; tail rather long and rounded; very muscular thighs and legs, with very 
stout toes, covered with round scales, and scutellated towards the end; strong, 
curved, and very acute claws. They chiefly inhabit mountains, forests, and wastes ; 
the fishing Eagles are not found far from the sea, or from large inland lakes and 
rivers; their flight, like that of the Buzzards, is generally heavy, and not far 
above the ground, when they are searching for their prey, which they pounce 
upon, not often pursuing it in the air; they are fond of soaring in circles at a 
great height, remaining a long time on wing. They nest early in the year on 
crags or trees, building enormous nests of sticks, lined with grass. The Eagles 
do not possess the nobility ascribed to them by the fancy of poets, being of little 
courage, rarely attacking any other bird that would offer resistance, content to 
feed on defenceless mammals, and not unseldom upon carrion. 
Vou. III S 
