84 BALD EAGLE. 



The egg which we have figured of this bird is from 

 a drawing sent us by M. Moquin-Tandon, with the 

 following remarks, in which it will be seen he differs 

 from Degland: — "His Royal Highness Prince Napoleon 

 brought back many eggs of this bird from his travels 

 in the north of Europe. He was good enough to give 

 me one of them. This egg is eight centimetres (three 

 inches and one eighth) in its greatest, and six centimetres 

 two milles (two inches and three eighths) in its smallest 

 diameter. The shell is rather rough, of a whitish very 

 slightly azured tint, and looks as though washed with 

 a dirty yellow. Prince Napoleon possessed several eggs 

 of the same bird — none had spots. I am particular upon 

 this point, because Nilsson says that they have spots 

 rare, and but little apparent, of a reddish grey. This 

 assertion is repeated by Degland. I have not broken 

 the egg to be certain the interior of the shell is really 

 of a beautiful grass green, but I doubt it very much." 



It is somewhat difficult to distinguish the young of 

 the Bald Eagle from that of the White-tailed Eagle, 

 and consequently some authors, including M. Temminck, 

 in the first edition of his Manual, have confounded the 

 two species. The latter states the only difference is in 

 the length of the tail; but Degland suggests the possi- 

 bility of Temminck having mistaken the young of albi- 

 cilla for leucocephalus, and justly remarks that a 

 difference in the length of the tail as a characteristic 

 distinction is not entitled to much confidence. The 

 adult species are quite distinct. 



An adult female from Canada, in the Norwich 

 Museum, has the head, neck, and tail entirely white; 

 rest of the body of a uniform dark brown, with one 

 or two feathers on the thighs whitish. The male does 

 not differ in colour from the female. 



