554 
SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — UAPTOMES— A CCIFITRES. 
532. A. chrysae'tus. (Gr. xpuo-atros, c/wMsaetos, golden eagle. Fig. 383.) Golden Eagle. Ring- 
tailed EAGLE. Adult $ 9 : Dark brown, with a purplish gloss, lighter on the coverts of the 
wings and tail and on the flags or tarsi; the cowl of lanceolate feathers golden-brown. Quills 
and tail-feathers blackish, but basally more or less variegated or areated with light brown, gray, 
or whitish ; at -maturity these markings becoming extensive and definite. Young birds are 
blacker than the adults, which grow gray" with age, and are " ring-tailed," that is, the basal 
portion and finally 
most of the tail is 
white, offset by a 
broad black termi- 
nal zone. Length 
about 3 feet ; extent 
6 feet or more : wing 
2 feet {^^ or more 
(9); tail 14.00- 
15.00 inches 
or more (9); bill, 
without cere, 1.50- 
1.75; tarsus 3.50- 
4.00. This great 
bird inhabits N. Am. 
at large, as well as 
Europe, Asia, etc.; 
in this country rather 
northerly, S. ordina- 
rily to about 35°. 
The American is not 
fairly to be distin- 
guished from the 
European, but on 
the whole is a larger 
and " better" bird, - 
like several others 
of the present fam- 
ily, as well as of 
the goose and duck 
Fig. 383. — The Eyrie of the Golden Eagle. (Designed by H. W. Elliott.) tribes. This I sup- 
pose to be owing to the fact that there is more room for them, more food, less persecution, and 
altogether less competition in the struggle for existence. It breeds chiefly in mountainous or 
boreal regions, the eyrie being usually upon a crag, the nest an enormous platform of sticks, 
etc. The eggs are subspherical and equal-ended; four selected specimens measure: 2.65 X 
2.15 ; 2.90x2.40 ; 3.00x2.35 ; 3.10X2.25 ; in 12 cases, only one is white like a bald eagle's; 
the rest are whitish, wholly indeterminately spotted, splashed and smirched with rich sienna, 
umber and bistre browns, with neutral-tint shell-markings ; 2, 3, or 4 are laid. 
187. HALIAE'TUS. (Gr. oKidfTos^ haliaetos, a sea-eagle; i. e., the osprey.) Sea Eagles. Fish- 
ing Eagles. General chars, of Aquila, as above, but the tarsi only feathered about half-way 
down, and no webbing between outer and middle toes. This nakedness of the shank is an in- 
fallible character : among the several different kinds of eagles popularly attributed to North 
America, only tivo have been found on the continent ; the one with the feathered shank is No. 
532 ; the one with scaly shank is No. 534, whatever its size or color. The scutellation of the 
