RING-TAIL EAGLE. 



15 



The Ring-tail Eagle measures nearly three feet in length ; the 

 bill is of a brownish horn color ; the cere, sides of the mouth and 

 feet yellow; iris of the eye reddish hazel, the eye turned conside- 

 rably forwards; eyebrow remarkably prominent, projecting over 

 the eye, and giving a peculiar sternness to the aspect of the bird; 

 the crown Is flat; the plumage of the head, throat and neck long 

 and pointed; that on the upper part of the head and neck very 

 pale ferruginous ; fore part of the crown black ; all the pointed 

 feathers are shafted with black ; whole upper parts dark blackish 

 brown; wings black; tail rounded, long, of a white or pale cream 

 color, minutely sprinkled with specks of ash and dusky, and end- 

 ing in a broad band of deep dark brown of nearly one-third its 

 length; chin, cheeks and throat black; whole lower parts a deep 

 dark brown, except the vent and inside of the thighs, which are 

 white stained with brown; legs thickly covered to the feet with 

 brownish white down or feathers ; claws black, very large, sharp 

 and formidable, the hind one full two inches long. 



The Ring-tail Eagle is found in Russia, Switzerland, Germa- 

 ny, France, Scotland, and the northern parts of America. As 

 Marco Polo, in his description of the customs of the Tartars, seems 

 to allude to this species, it may be said to inhabit the whole cir- 

 cuit of the arctic regions of the globe. The Golden Eagle, on the 

 contrary, is said to be found only in the more warm and tempe- 

 rate countries of the ancient continent.^ Later discoveries, how- 

 ever, have ascertained it to be also an inhabitant of the United 

 States. 



* BuFFON, vqI. i, p. 56, Tran«. 



