316 SEA EAGLE. 



brown colour ; cere and legs, bright yellow ; the latter, as in 

 the bald eagle, feathered a little below the knee ; irides, a 

 bright straw colour; head above, neck, and back, streaked 

 with light brown, deep brown, and white, the plumage being 

 white, tipt and centred with brown ; scapulars, brown ; lesser 

 wing-coverts, very pale, intermixed with white ; primaries, 

 black, their shafts brownish white; rump, pale brownish 

 white ; tail, rounded, somewhat longer than the wings, when 

 shut, "brown on the exterior vanes, the inner ones white, 

 sprinkled with dirty brown ; throat, breast, and belly, white, 

 dashed and streaked with different tints of brown and pale 

 yellow ; vent, brown, tipt with white ; femorals, dark brown, 

 tipt with lighter ; auriculars, brown, forming a bar from below 

 the eye backwards ; plumage of the neck, long, narrow, and 

 pointed, as is usual with eagles, and of a brownish colour, tipt 

 with white. 



The sea eagle is said, by various authors, to hunt at night 

 as well as during the day, and that, besides fish, it feeds on 

 chickens, birds, hares, and other animals. It is also said to 

 catch fish during the night ; and that the noise of its plung- 

 ing into the water is heard at a great distance. But, in the 

 descriptions of these writers, this bird has been so frequently 

 confounded with the osprey. as to leave little doubt that the 

 habits and manners of the one have been often attributed to 

 both, and others added that are common to neither. 



[The following addition is made by Mr Ord, but I have in 

 many instances found the reverse. I have had the golden 

 eagle and peregrine perfectly tame, and even playful. Three 

 sea eagles with me now are very savage : — " The bald eagle 

 may be tamed, so as to become quite sociable, permitting one 

 to handle it at pleasure, and even seeming pleased with such 

 familiarities. The hawks, on the contrary, are apt to retain 

 their savage nature under the kindest treatment ; and, like 

 the cat, will frequently remind one, on the slightest provoca- 

 tion, to beware of those powerful weapons with which nature 

 has provided them."] 



