The Golden Eagle 

 No. 337 



Golden Eagle 



A. O. U. No. 349. Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus). 



Description. — Adults: General plumage rich dark brown, the feathers with 

 considerable individual variability, sometimes purplish lustrous, sometimes paling 

 on wing-coverts, etc.; the lanceolate feathers of occiput and cervix buffy-tipped and 

 tawny-edged (scarcely "golden," but the name arises here); wing-quills and tail black- 

 ish (in fresh feather bluish- or purplish-lustrous), the latter clouded or obscurely barred 

 for the basal two-thirds with grayish brown and whitish; tarsi, fully feathered to the 

 toes, paler or whitish. The birds become somewhat gray with age. Immature: 

 Like adult but blacker; basal two-thirds of tail plain white, contrasting with terminal 

 black; a vaguely rounded whitish area on under surface of wing; tarsi still paler than 

 those of adult. Nestling: Covered with pure white down; quills and tail showing 

 blackish. Adult male, length 762-914.4 (30.00-36.00); wing about 609.6 (24.00); 

 tail 368.3 (14.50); bill 40.6 (1.60); tarsus 95.3 (3.75). Adult female, length 889-1016 

 (35.00-40.00); wing about 660.4 (26.00); tail 393.7 (15.50); bill 45.7 (1.80); tarsus 

 106.2 (4.18). Hind claw along curve 65 (2.56); expanse of wings from six and one-half 

 to seven and one-half feet. 



Recognition Marks. — Largest. Not easily distinguished at distance from 

 immature Bald Eagle; feathered tarsi, of course, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: A bulky platform of sticks with a shallow inner depression 

 lined with grass, bark-strips, sage-leaves, or other soft substance, placed in inaccessible 

 situations on cliffs, or less commonly in trees. Eggs: 1, 2 or 3, rarely 4; ovate or 

 rounded ovate; white, sometimes immaculate, but usually speckled, spotted, blotched, 

 or wholly immersed in soft browns (vinaceous buff and fawn-color to russet-hazel and 

 rich rufous). Av. of 20 eggs in the M. C. O. coll.: 73.8 x 58.1 (2.906 x 2.287); index 

 78.7. Extremes: 66.8-81 by 53.3-61.7 (2.63-3.19 by 2.10-2.43). Season: Feb. 15- 

 April; one brood. 



General Range. — The northern portion of the Northern Hemisphere, south 

 to northern Africa, the Himalayas, China, and Mexico, chiefly in mountainous districts. 

 In North America, from northern Alaska, northwestern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, 

 and northern Ungava, south to central Lower California, central Mexico, and Texas, 

 and east of the Rocky Mountains to the Black Hills (South Dakota), Manitoba, 

 northern New England, and Nova Scotia, and rarely in the Allegheny Mountains south 

 to North Carolina. 



Distribution in California. — Formerly abundant in all mountainous districts, 

 save in the humid coastal strip. Now rapidly diminishing in numbers, but still fairly 

 common in the coastal ranges south of San Francisco Bay and the mountains of the 

 San Diegan district. Found also less commonly in the Sierra Nevada and along the 

 inner northern coast ranges and in the Warner Mountains. 



Authorities. — Heermann (Aquila canadensis), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. x., 

 J 859, p. 30 (Livermore Pass; Mokelumne River); Fisher, Hawks and Owls of the U. S., 

 1893, p. 93, pi. 13 (food, etc.); Finley, Condor, vol. viii., 1906, p. 5, figs. (Santa Clara 

 Co., desc. and photos of nest, eggs, young, etc.); Oberholser, U. S. Dept. Agric, Biol. 

 Surv. no. 27, 1906, p. 20 (economic; habits, distr., food, etc.); Miller, Univ. Calif. 

 Publ. Geol., vol. vi., 191 1, p. 307 (fossil). 



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