BALD EAGLE 85 



An immature specimen in the same collection is dark 

 brown, with white markings on the neck, belly, and 

 back. Tail black. 



According to Degland the young differ from those of 

 the White-tailed Eagle in the greyish tint of the head 

 and neck, and by the entire plumage being less varie- 

 gated with dark and pale grey brown during the first 

 years. After some moultings the head, neck, and upper 

 tail coverts shew the white feathers, and leave no longer 

 any doubt of their identity. 



According to the same authority the beak, cere, base 

 of the tarsi, and toes of the adult are of a more or less 

 pale yellow. Iris white, inclining to yellow. 



Since the publication of our last number, containing 

 the first page of the notice of F. leiccocephalus , I have 

 received letters from Mr. Gurney and Mr. Alfred Newton, 

 of Elvedon Hall, near Thetford, expressing most decided 

 opinions in favour of Schlegel's view, that this bird 

 ought not to be included in the European list. I am 

 anxious to make this work as perfect as possible, and 

 in the admission or exclusion of any bird, I think it my 

 duty to weigh the evidence, and decide according to that 

 which appears in my judgment the strongest. Degland, 

 who writes five years after the publication of Schlegel's 

 "Revue," speaks in the most positive manner upon the 

 subject, and in favour of the retention of this bird in 

 the European list. 



I particularly draw attention to his observation, page 

 13, "Ornithologie Europeenne," and the quotation of 

 M. Nordmann's two Eagles, killed in the south of 

 Russia, with heads and necks, as well as tails, as white 

 as snow. Has any ornithologist ever known such a 

 plumage in F. albicilla ? I may add that F. leucocepha- 

 lus is introduced into the European list by Temminck, 



