172 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



HALI,EETUS ALBICILLA 



265. Haliseetus albicilla (L.) — THE WHITE-TAILED 

 EAGLE. 



Fat.co Albicilla Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 89 (1758— " Habitat 



in Europa, America." The latter erroneous. Restricted typical locality : 



Sweden). 



Haliceetus albicilla (Linnaeus), Yarrell, 1, p. 25 ; Saunders, p. 329. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter and summer. — 

 Feathers of crown, nape and sides of neck lance-shaped, bases 

 brown more or less mottled pale brown, shafts dark brown, tips 

 brownish-white or yellowish-white (paler when worn than when 

 fresh) ; rest of upper-parts darker brown with a purplish gloss when 

 fresh, feathers of mantle havingpaler tips, which become whitish when 

 worn, scapulars darker and more glossy ; shorter upper tail-coverts 

 dark brown as rump but sometimes slightly mottled with white at 

 tips, long upper tail-coverts white with bases dark brown somewhat 

 mottled with white and tips same with variable amount of brown 

 and mottling ; feathers of lores bristle-like with short tufts at base 

 creamy-white ; chin, throat and upper-breast much as crown and 

 nape, but feathers not so elongated and usually with wider dark 

 brown shaft-streaks ; rest of under-parts, axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts as upper-parts, but with scarcely any purple gloss and 

 feathers with narrow pale brown tips ; tail white, concealed bases 

 of feathers brown with some white mottling, tips sometimes with 

 some brown specks ; primaries brown washed grey with whitish 

 shafts, tips blackish with brown shafts, secondaries same but basal 

 portions not so grey and tips not so dark ; wing-coverts as upper- 

 parts. This plumage is acquired by complete moult which seems 

 of a gradual nature. Insufficient moulting birds have been avail- 

 able to state a period, but moulting examples dated June, Dec, Jan. 

 and Feb. have been examined. 



Nestling. — At first doivn (a) creamy-buff to buffish-grey rather 

 darker and greyer under and behind eyes, on wings and rump and 

 whiter on chin and throat, fairly long with hair-like tips, covering 

 bird fairly well but not thickly and with bare patch on each side 

 of belly, back of tarsus and distal half of front bare. Some very 

 short whitish tufts of down (b). Later a much coarser, more woolly 

 and longer down (c) growing very thickly replaces down (b) (exactly 

 as in Peregrine, see p. 108). Down (c) crown, under-parts and sides 

 of back dark greyish-buff, upper-parts and wings paler, whitish at 

 base of down. 



Juvenile. — Feathers of crown dark chocolate-brown towards 

 bases, edges pale reddish-brown, bases white ; feathers of nape 

 same but with small pale brown tips and more white and reddish- 

 brown basally ; feathers of mantle and scapulars with much more 

 pale reddish-brown, only shafts and distal central part of feather 

 being dark chocolate-brown ; rump same but paler and with smaller 



