FALC0N1D/E. 19 



were compared, and may not be perceptible in all the individuals of the two 

 species. The mature Bald Eagle is rather a smaller bird, and has in proportion 

 a smaller head, than the Cinereous Eagle ; its lores are more feathered ; and it 

 has a feeble cheeping cry like a hawk, different from the more decided scream of 

 the latter Eagle. Temminck informs us that the Cinereous Eagle is proper to 

 Europe, while the White-headed Eagle is common to the northern hemispheres 

 of both the Old and New Worlds, although it occurs more abundantly in the latter. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a mature bird, killed at Hudson's Bay. 



Colour of the head, greater part of the neck, and of the tail, including its upper and under 

 coverts and the vent feathers, pure white. The back, wing coverts, breast, belly, and thighs, 

 are brownish-black, the margins of the feathers being paler, approaching to a soiled wood- 

 brown tint. The quill feathers are brownish-black, with paler shafts. Bill straw-yellow. 

 Cere greenish-yellow. Irides wine-yellow. Tarsi yellow. Claws blackish-brown. 



Form, &c. — Bill three and a half inches long, and very strong, with a convex ridge curved 

 in a regular arc from the cere to the tip. There is a very obtuse and slightly-prominent lobe 

 on the cutting margin of the upper mandible, immediately beyond which the point of the bill 

 droops abruptly to form its hook. The upper surface of the cere is flattened. The lores are 

 clothed with short white hairs and feathers that project over the nostrils. The nostrils are 

 large, oblong, with one softer margin, which moves as the bird respires ; and they have an 

 obliquely transverse direction. The eyebrow projects considerably, and the eye is turned 

 obliquely forwards. The feathers on the head are triangular, and towards the base of the neck 

 they become long and pointed. The tips of the folded wings reach to the middle of the tail. 

 The quill feathers are acute : the fourth is the longest, the third nearly equals it ; the fifth is 

 about a quarter of an inch, and the second is more than an inch shorter than the fourth ; the 

 sixth is an inch shorter than the second, or an inch and three-quarters shorter than the fifth ; 

 while the first is three inches and a half shorter than the second, and just exceeds the seventh, 

 which is two inches and a half shorter than the sixth. The outer webs of these feathers, 

 from the second to the sixth inclusive, are strongly sinuated ; and the inner webs, from the first 

 to the fifth inclusive, are still more deeply and abruptly emarginated. The tail is rounded. 

 The tarsi are feathered for more than half their length ; their naked part is covered with small, 

 rounded, convex scales at the base and behind, and is protected anteriorly next the feathers 

 by five large transverse scales. The hind toe is short and strong, and is armed with a larger 

 nail than the others. The inner fore toe is a little longer than the hind one, its claw being, 

 however, somewhat smaller ; the middle toe is considerably longer, but it is at the same 

 time more slender and has a much smaller nail. The outer toe, though a little longer than 

 the inner one, is the most slender and has the smallest nail of all. There are eight or ten large 

 transverse shield-like scales on the middle toe, four on the hind and inner fore ones, and five 

 on the outer one : all their bases are reticulated. The claws are strong, much curved, and 

 acute ; and the middle one has a sharp-edged groove on its inner side. 



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