4 
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
the Sea-Eagle is generally to he found there is not even the roughest track within miles of the spot, and the 
travelling is a work of no little difficulty owing to the inaccessible nature of the country. The hills are steep 
and rocky, the valleys and low-lying flats in many parts impassable during wet and stormy weather, being 
intersected in every direction with marshy pools and waving bogs. 
The various changes undergone by this species in its progress towards maturity would require a series of 
coloured drawings to illustrate them accurately ; and as I confine the plates and descriptions in these pages * 
entirely to those birds I have myself obtained, I must defer for the present, till I have had the opportunity of 
procuring the necessary specimens, any attempt to enter into the full details of each succeeding stage of 
plumage. As I have, however, frequently observed and taken notes on the immature birds I have watched on 
the hills, I shall not be breaking through my rules by simply stating that the whole of the first plumage, 
including the tail, is a uniform dark brown, striped and mottled with lighter shades. As the bird increases in 
age the pale brown feathers appear on the head and neck, and the tail gradually becomes a pure white. 
I have no means of judging with any certainty, but should imagine that the perfect adult dress is not 
assumed till the bird has attained the age of five or six years. The old female from which the Plate is taken is 
as fine a specimen as it woidd be possible to procure. All signs of immaturity have entirely disappeared, the 
beak has turned a clear yellow tint, and the feathers of the head and neck, having lost all traces of darker 
markings, are become a uniform pale brown ; the tail also is perfectly white. 
In this species the tarsus (that part of the leg between the knee and the foot) is always bare of feathers. 
This is the best distinguishing mark (to those who are not perfectly acquainted with the birds) between the 
two British Eagles, the Golden being feathered to the foot +. 
The eye during life showed little difference in colour from the surrounding feathers on the head, 
except by its brightness. On close inspection the iris was a pale fawn tint, rendered still lighter 
by being marked with lines like crystals radiating from the pupil, which added both depth and brilliancy 
to its appearance. I had a good opportunity of thoroughly examining this specimen when first recovered 
from the loch into which it had fallen Avounded, and Avas greatly struck by the sparkle of its Avild and 
flashing eyes. 
A fcAV words on the capture of this fine old bird may not be out of place. An extract from my note-book 
for 1877 will give all necessary particulars, together with a short account of the locality, as well as a feAV 
remarks on the natives of the soil. 
“ April 28th. After a three-days’ journey by easy stages from Inverness avc reached the lodge on Loch 
Uisge, which had been kindly placed at our disposal by the tenant. The travelling on the last day AA r as over an 
exceedingly Avild and desolate country ; the road, which here and there skirted the sea-loclis, was rough and 
narrow, but, except in a feAV parts, far better than Avould have been expected from the scanty amount of traffic 
that must pass over it. Two or three small villages were seen, as avcII as a feAV scattered shcalings, most of 
the buildings being placed at no great distance from the shores of the salt-water lochs. The dwellings of the 
natives are miserable in the extreme ; the Avails are built up with stones and mud, and the roof composed of 
straw, grass, and turf. Windows they have none, unless sometimes a small piece of glass is let in with mud. 
Chimneys arc unknoAvn : the peat-fire burns on the ground, or, it may be, on a small heap of stones, and the 
smoke finds its Avay out at the door if open ; at other times it forces its way through the thatch or the cracks 
in the AA'all. 
“ On our arrival the keepers informed us there Avcre at the present time several Eagles frequenting the 
* A few remarks in the Introduction explain my reasons for adhering to this resolution. 
t I mentioned this fact in my notes on the Golden Eagle, and I repeat it here, as it is such a frequent occurrence for the two species to be 
confounded. 
