HALIAETUS ALBICILLA. 
Sea-Eag-le. 
Aquila albicilla, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 427. 
ossi/raga, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 437. 
Vultnr albicilla, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 123. 
Falco ossifragus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 124. 
albicilla, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 253. 
melanotus, Id. ib. id., p. 254. 
albicaudus, Id. ib. id., p. 258. 
pygargus, Daud. Traite d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 62. 
Halia'ettis albicilla, Cuv. Rfegne Anim., ed. i. p. 315. 
Of the two great Eagles which inhabit the British Islands, the Haliaetm albicilla is now hy far the most 
numerous, whatever may have been the case in former times. Unlike the Aquila chrysa'etos, which affects 
forests and inland mountain districts, the Sea-Eagle resorts to the rocky shores of “ sea-girt Albion,” from 
which it rarely departs, except to take possession of an island in some Highland loch, where it may obtain an 
abundant supply of food, and rear its young without fear of molestation. At the present time it is mostly to 
he met with on the north-western shores of Scotland and Ireland ; examples are, however, occasionally shot in 
nearly every English county, from Cornwall to the Scottish border ; but these are mostly immature birds, and 
very few, I believe, have ever been killed with the pure white tail and yellow bill characteristic of the adult. 
Eastward of Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Western Siberia are countries in which 
it takes up its abode. It evidently affects more northern climes than the Golden Eagle ; for we have no 
evidence that it ever crosses the Mediterranean, or proceeds far in the direction of the tropics. 
The habits of this Eagle clearly indicate that it is especially adapted for feeding upon fish, both 
living and dead ; hut although this may he the staple, its diet would seem to be somewhat varied, 
for it will readily eat carrion of all kinds, and will doubtless occasionally fall upon a lamb or a 
mountain-hare, goose, cormorant, guillemot, or any other rock-breeding birds. The following very 
characteristic note on this part of the bird’s economy has been obligingly forwarded to me by 
H. Osborne, Jun., Esq., of Wick : — 
“ An observer, who carefully watched this depredator while beating the margin of a loch, not far from the 
edge of the rock, saw him slip over the precipice and shoot along about halfway between the top of the cliff 
and the sea. Hardly had he made his appearance when a rush of birds seawards took place. Everything 
that could fly left the rocks ; and the terror and confusion that ensued was remarkable. This continued 
during the whole course of his flight ; and his appearance w'as the signal for a hurrying of the scared masses 
out of the reach of danger. So numerous and so very much frightened were the birds, that the progress of 
the Eagle could be traced, long after he himself was invisible, by the strings of sea-fowl, of various kinds, 
that persistently continued to seek safety in flight. It was long before gull and guillemot got over their 
fright, and matters assumed ‘ the even tenor of their way.’ ” 
Mr. Stevenson, of Norwich, who has carefully noted the occurrence of this species in Norfolk, says, 
“Specimens, in immature plumage, occur on this coast almost every autumn or winter; hut the adult 
bird, with a white tall, has never been taken in this county. Two females and one male were shot in 
different parts during the winter of 1855—56 ; and in the following winter of 1856-57, between November 
and January, three more were obtained on the coast. Two of the latter were killed at Winterton, near 
Yarmouth, a favourite locality, and nearly at the same spot. Since that date others have been seen, and in 
some instances killed, at Horning in 1859, Holkham in 1860, and at Westwick in 1862. I have not heard 
of any during the mild winter of 1862-63.” That it occurs as far west as Cornwall is certain, since Mr. Rodd 
states, in his ‘ List of Cornish Birds,’ that it is sometimes seen on the sea-coast of that county. 
The principal localities in Scotland wherein Mr. Wolley obtained eggs of this species, as recorded in the 
‘ Ootheca Wolleyana,’ are Argyll, Sutherland, and Caithness : the bird also breeds in the Orkneys, Shetland, 
and \Yestern Islands. Mr. Thompson states that, in Ireland, it frequents all situations which are similar to 
those it inhabits in Scotland ; it also occurs in Iceland, is very common in Greenland, and, I believe, in 
Labrador. 
“ The Sea-Eagle is now on the wing ; and as he gradually mounts in wide curves, sailing at intervals, you 
cannot fail to gaze on him with delight. With his feet concealed among the feathers of the abdomen, his 
head drawn close to his shoulders, and his magnificent wings spread out to their full extent, and even 
seeming to curve upwards at the points, he sweeps along the sides of the hills, advancing with apparently 
