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LE VAILLANT's BIRDS Of AFRICA. 



I had the satisfaction of observing for a considerable time a pair of 

 White Gos Eagles, who had established themselves near my camp 

 in the delightful Auteniqua country. I watched them for more than 

 three weeks before I shot them. I used to pass entire mornings, seated 

 at the foot of a tree, in observing their various movements and stra- 

 tagems. As they happened to be hatching at this time, 1 was always 

 sure of finding them in the same places j when one of them had 

 mastered any prey, all the crows of the vicinity would flock round in 

 vast numbers, screaming for a share of the booty, but the eagle would 

 appear to take but little notice of them, and they, not daring to ap- 

 proach too near, would satisfy themselves with the fragments which 

 fell from the tree. When any other bird of prey appeared in the 

 district, the male eagle would pursue it in the most determined man- 

 ner till out of his domain. The very small birds might approach his 

 eyry, and even alight upon it with impunity : the eagle would do 

 them no harm, they were there even in safety against the attack of 

 any inferior bird of prey. 



The wings of the White Gos Eagle do not appear to extend so 

 widely as those of the other eagles ; for, not stretching farther than 

 to about the middle of the tail, they seem to be shorter in proportion 

 with that, which is very long j but if we consider the size of the 

 body, the expansion of the wings will be found sufficiently great. 



The White Gos Eagle has a smaller body than the European eagles, 

 and is longer and of a lighter figure. He is admirably constructed 

 in every respect for bird-hunting, and bears to our European eagles 

 the same relation that harriers do to wolf-dogs. 



The White Gos Eagle is characterized by a kind of crest, which 

 takes its origin behind the back part of the head, (occiput), but it is 

 much less apparent than in the preceding species. It is but slightly 

 perceptible in the female j she is larger by one-third than the male j 

 her colour is generally more tinged with fawn-brown over the man- 

 tle and wing-coverts ; both of them are booted, that is, feathered to 

 the toes. The tail is striped across with black and white. The 

 great external plumelets of the wing-feathers are brownish, and 

 striped in all that part which is covered when the wing is folded. 

 The iris and the toes are of a fine yellow colour ; the talons, which 

 are very strong, are lead coloured, as is also the beak. 



All the feathers of the White Gos Eagle are white, dashed with 

 brownish black upon the mantle ; they are soft, and not rough to the 

 touch, as those of eagles are in general. Its cry is formed of several 

 shrill sounds, uttered hurriedly, and which may be expressed, by cri- 



