14 
FALCONIDiE. 
Parker * took a portrait of the little eagle while I had it for a 
short time,, and mentioned a singular coincidence. When on a 
visit to Mr. Butler of Waterville, a few days before the bird came 
under his inspection, that gentleman had mentioned a small brown 
eagle, in all respects like a golden eagle, except in being about 
half the size, as frequenting the mountains above Cahirciveen, in 
Kerry : — he had seen it occasionally during the last seven or 
eight years. To the Bev. Mr. Bastable, a clergyman of the 
neighbourhood, it was likewise known.” I have little doubt, also, 
that a bird particularly described to myself, when visiting Horn 
Head (Donegal), in 1832, as having been shot there the previous 
year, was of this species. 
The Spotted Eagle has not been met with in England or 
Scotland. In Continental Europe, it appears to inhabit chiefly 
the east and south ; but has been obtained in most of the countries 
southward of the Baltic Sea, including Belgium and Erance. 
THE SEA EAGLE. 
White-tailed Eagle. 
Haliaetos albicilla , Briss. (sp.) 
Falco ossifragus, Linn. 
Is found in suitable localities throughout Ireland, and is 
resident. 
Distribution , Eyries , Habits , fyc. 
The first Sea Eagle I had the satisfaction of seeing in Ireland, 
was on the 25th June, 1832, when visiting the majestic promon- 
tory of Horn Head (Donegal), which rises precipitously from the 
ocean to an elevation of nearly 600 feet. On looking over the 
cliff on the eastern side, one of these birds rose from a platform 
of rock about sixty yards distant. Immediately afterwards, on 
reaching the northern side, I perceived another sitting on her 
nest, about a fourth of the way from the summit of the precipice; 
* A gentleman whose splendid collection of coloured drawings of native birds, 
mostly life-size, and all executed by himself, attracted great admiration in the Natural 
History Section of the British Association at Cork, in 1843. 
