396 



Marvels of the Universe 



t l,ni„ lj,i] [T. /■■. Smil/i. 



PART OF A DIATOM'S SHELL. 



This small portion of the flinty shell has been magnified about two 

 thousand times. 



Pfinfn hti] 



[FlolhTs ,(■ Co.. I.iiuq.uglil . 

 SPINDLE-SHAPED DIATOMS. 



Enlarged about six nundred times. 



i«P" "'•■^^^ 



. ^B^;>JM^ ^^^^iJi^ ^^^si^^ ^^^ ^^K. 



Photo by'i 



HONEY-COMBED DIATOM. 



[E. J. S/iilla 



The spaces in the valve of this Diatom are so minute that fifty thou- 

 sand of them would be required to reach across a halfpenny. 



THE GREAT SEA 

 EAGLE 



BY SIR H.VRRY JOHNSTON, G.C M.G. 



The Sea Eagles belong to a genus 

 which (with two subgenera) is found 

 almost all over the world, and is 

 invariably addicted in the main to a 

 fish diet, though its members do not 

 disdain other forms of flesh food if 

 they are within reach. 



These Eagles are noteworthy also 

 for their loud screaming cries and 

 for their bold, unusual, and often 

 handsome coloration. 



Some species found in Australia 

 are quite small birds — not larger than 

 a buzzard — and, like the screaming 

 Fish Eagle of Tropical Africa, are 

 white, chestnut-brown and black. 

 But the Fish Eagles of the Pacific 

 coast of the Americas and Eastern 

 Asia are very large birds, almost, 

 but not quite, the largest of the 

 birds of prey. The most striking of 

 these Fishing Eagles is Steller's Sea 

 Eagle, of the Pacific coasts of North 

 America, Alaska, Kamschatka and 

 Japan, a bird which was first dis- 

 covered by a Russian naturalist of 

 that name in the eighteenth century. 

 It is a favourite subject in Japanese 

 art, and is, in fact, a great lure to the 

 artist for both form and colour The 

 big, narrow, deep beak is a bright 

 lemon-yellow, and the plumage is dark 

 sepia brown and snowy white. Some 

 of the finest examples of these magni- 

 ficent birds measure about four feet in 

 length from the tip of the beak 

 to the end of the tail, and have a 

 spread of over six feet across the 

 wings. 



Steller's Sea Eagle differs from the 

 more typical Sea Eagles by having 

 fourteen tail feathers instead of twelve. 

 Its food consists of young seals, foxes 

 and grouse, besides fish. 



