178 
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
excitement or irritation, and the tint here is 
remarkably clear, appearing at a distance, when 
shone on by the sun, almost white ; the quills are 
blackish brown, with a purplish tinge, and have 
the shafts pale ; the upper tail coverts and tail 
are pure white, and in all the attitudes of the 
bird are conspicuously seen. This mark of per- 
fect plumage, is considered to be completed about 
the third moult, but the female above alluded to 
had not a perfectly pure tail at the age of five 
years, the outer feathers retaining a considerable 
portion of the brown mottling, which is seen in 
the second year’s plumage. Now, at the age of 
seven years, the tail is unsullied ; the bill and cere 
are straw yellow, the latter of a darker, rather 
greener tint ; the iris is remarkably beautiful, of 
a pale grayish honey yellow, very brilliant and 
expressive. 
The plumage of the young bird, or Cinereous 
Eagle of authors, is generally of an umber brown, 
of a grayer tint beneath, the feathers tipped with 
a paler shade, and often white at the base ; the 
tail is mottled with pale brownish white and clove 
brown, and with the successive moults the pro- 
portion of pale colour increases, prevailing most 
at the base and centre of the tail ; the colour of 
the bilL is less clear, more mixed with green, and 
the iris is pale chestnut brown, but of a clear 
expression. The form of this species is less com- 
