go WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 



WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE.* (Falco 

 leueocephalus.) 



PLATE XXXVI. 



Linn. Syst. 124. — Lath. i. 29. — Le pygargue a tete blanche, Buff. i. 99, PI. enl. 

 411.— Arct. Zool. 196, No. 89.— Bald Eagle, Calesby, i. 1.— Peak's Museum, 

 No. 78. 



HALIJEETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS.—BAViGNY.f 



Aigle a, tete blanche, Guv. Regn. Anim. i. p. 315. — Temm. Man. i. p. 52. — Falco 

 leueocephalus (sub-gen. Haliseetus), Bonap. Synop. p. 26. — The White-headed 

 Eagle, Aud. Orn. Biog. i. p. 160, pi. 31, male. — Aquila (Haliseetus) leucoce- 

 phala, North. Zool. ii. p. 15. 



This distinguished bird, as lie is the most beautiful of his 

 tribe in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our 

 country, is entitled to particular notice. He is represented in 

 the plate of one-third his natural size, and was drawn from one 



* The epithet bald applied to this species, whose head is thickly- 

 covered with feathers, is equally improper and absurd with the titles 

 goatsucker, kingfisher, &c, bestowed on others ; and seems to have been 

 occasioned by the white appearance of the head, when contrasted with 

 the dark colour of the rest of the plumage. The appellation, however, 

 being now almost universal, is retained in the following pages. 



t This species and the sea eagle of Europe have been thought to be 

 the same by many ornithologists ; some of a latter date appear still to 

 confound them, and to be unable to satisfy themselves regarding the 

 distinction. The subject has even been left in doubt in a work which 

 has been recommended as a text-book to the British student. They are 

 decidedhy distinct, the one being the representing form of the other in 

 their respective countries. The common sea eagle, Haliazetus albicilla, 

 is, I believe, exclusively European ; the H. leueocephalus, according to 

 Temminck, is common to the northern hemispheres of both the Old 

 and New World, though much more abundant in the latter. The adult 

 birds may be at once distinguished, and the confusion can only have 

 arisen from the similarity of the young : when closely compared, they 

 will also be found to possess considerable distinctions. 



In habit, too, there is a difference. I have had both species alive in 

 my possession for several years ; that of America, more active and rest- 

 less in disposition, is constantly in motion, and incessantly utters its 

 shrill barking cry. Both species are difficult to be tamed, but the 

 stranger will hardly allow his cage to be cleaned out. Though four 

 years old, the head and tail have not attained their pure whiteness, 



