158 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



yard in length, he being a little shorter. When with 

 outstretched pinions he dominates the air for miles around 

 him, there are few would care to deny his right. The only 

 really golden parts about him are his feet and cere, the bare 

 covering of the root of the beak. As has been already 

 remarked, his plumage is variable. At times there is a rich 

 ruddy brown with a yellowish tinge to it, especially to that 

 part covering the head and neck, but it is not uncommon in 

 older specimens for this to have disappeared in favour of 

 darker hues, a chocolate brown taking its place. Occasionally 

 white varieties have been seen. 



Why the golden eagle should be so wide-spread is easily 

 comprehensible. One has but to watch the tiny territory 

 governed by a pair of magpies, to see with what jealousy they 

 view any intrusion on the part of their own kind, and with 

 what vigorous offensive they resent it. An American observer 

 tells us that in the wildest parts of Oregon eagles' nests are 

 as a rule some twenty miles apart. It is no wonder then that 

 the golden eagle has spread over all northern Europe and 

 Asia, that he is identical with his so-called Canadian 

 relative, and goes south even as far as Mexico, that 

 he is known even in India and breeds in Algeria. To 

 him space is a necessity. He makes his home, as other birds 

 make theirs, according to circumstances. If cliffs are 

 available, he has a seeming preference for them. If not. tall 

 trees, or even the steep worn sides of a river canyon will suit. 



In the northern parts of China he is well known. There, 

 plumage takes on so dark a chocolate hue as to warrant the 

 natives, in their more or less inexact way, calling him the 

 "black eagle." Specimens in the Shanghai Museum show 

 that their error is excusable. They know him, moreover, as 

 a bird trained to use for man. Manchus and Tartars, men 

 of the plains from birth as they used to be, have not 

 yet lost their love for the chase, and not only use 

 various kinds of hawks and falcons, but have even trained 

 the king of birds himself to aid them in the attack and 

 capture of the larger bids and medium-sized mammals. 

 Hares, gazelles, foxes, and even wolves are sometimes 

 hunted in this way, the yelling troop of excited horsemen 

 trying to keep up with their winged allies forming a picture 

 for a Caton Woodville to depict. What destruction may be 

 wrought amongst game and wild fowl by eagles is seen from 

 an account of the examination of the surroundings of an eyrie 

 in Germany, where there were found the remains of some 

 three hundred ducks and forty hares! 



Next in order, and quite close in rank to the golden, is 

 the Imperial eagle, A. itnperialis, or A. mogilnik. During 

 certain stages of development the imperial is so much like the 



