little effort, and should he spy a carcase, hovers over it in short curves, until satisfied as to his security 
should he alight upon it. 
“ The cry is so shrill, that in calm weather one may hear it at the distance of a mile ; and it often emits 
a kind of clear yelp, which resembles the syllable klick, klick, klick, or queek, queek, queek, and which seems 
to be an expression of anger or impatience.” (Macgillivary, ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iii. pp. 228, 229.) 
“ The Sea-Eagle,” says Mr. Wolley, “ generally makes its nest in the high cliffs of the coast, but also 
occasionally breeds inland. In the former situation an eyrie had nothing but a very little heather, grass, 
and moss used in its construetion. Two other nests were made principally of sea-weed, and were in 
such “ tremendous cliffs” that my informant’s hair ‘ gets strong ’ when he thinks of them. In the 
Shetlands an inaccessible eyrie was pointed out to me on the top of a stack, or steep detached rock ; aud I have 
seen another such stack on the north-east coast of Scotland, which was also said to have an eyrie at its 
summit. In inland situations, the Sea-Eagle generally establishes itself upon a rock or islet in the middle 
of a loch. Here it builds, upon the ground or in a tree, a nest whose construction does not differ from that 
of the Golden Eagle, there being always in it a certain amount of Luzula sylmticn. The tree is not always 
a large one : I have seen two nests of different years in trees on separate islands in one loch, each oidy 
about four feet from the ground. I can call to mind nine instances of such island eyries. The old birds 
do not always calculate the depth of the water, as there is one place at least to which a man can wade. 
Where swimming is necessary to get at the eggs, it is often an affair of danger, as the birds will do their 
best to drown the enemy with their wings. In two spots I have seen large Scotch firs, which have been 
formerly tenanted by Sea-Eagles — one by the side of a loch, the other several miles away from any piece of 
water, in a sort of open wood of similar trees. The nest had been in a fork where three branches met, 20 
feet high, and, as in other cases, the main trunk bore its weight. In one instance the crossed and nearly 
horizontal trunks of two small ti'ees formed the support. The eggs, two or three in number, are always 
probably, when first laid, of a spotless white, and afterwards receive as stains the slight colour with which 
they are marked. Tliey are laid a week or a fortnight later than those of the Golden Eagle, and are 
generally smaller.” (Hewitson’s ‘ Eggs of British Birds,’ 3rd edit. a'oI. i. p. 15.) 
Macgillivray states that toward the middle of spring these Eagles begin to construet their nest, which is of 
great size, being about 5 feet in diameter, flat, and composed of sticks, twigs, heath, dried sea-weeds, tufts of 
grass, wool, and other materials, and that “ the young make their appearance at the beginning of June, and 
are then covered with a down of a greyish-white colour. They are plentifully supplied with food, and grow 
rapidly, but do not leave the nest until the middle of August, when they are entieed abroad by their parents, 
who continue to supply them with food for many days. When the breeding-season is over, the young 
disperse ; and although these birds are not of social habits, several individuals may often be seen, at no great 
distance, traversing the hills or shores where there is plunder to be obtained. Their food consists of 
carrion of every description, stranded fish, young sea-birds, and small quadrupeds, for which they search 
the moors and pastures. Their sight must be keen ; but in looking for prey they do not rise to a vast 
elevation, as has been alleged, but fly at the height of a few hundred yards, sweeping along the hill-sides with 
a steady motion, or winding in curves with outspread wings. I have often seen them, far out at sea, 
hovering and sailing in this manner ; and several persons have told me that they sometimes clutch up fishes 
that happen to come to the surface. They may also occasionally be observed watching on the banks of a river, 
and attacking the salmon and trout when they come into shallow water. That they fare well is evinced by 
the abundance of provision which they bring to their young ; but their courage and address do not seem to 
be equal to their powers ; for, unless pressed by famine, they scarcely venture to molest an animal larger 
than a hare. Grouse are sometimes destroyed by it, and Instances have been known of its carrying off a 
domestic fowl that had straggled to a distance from the house ; but the Sea-Eagle has more of the Vulture 
than of the Falcon in its character, and at all times would be well content with mere carrion. 
The adults have the lanceolate feathers clothing the head and neck pale brown, with a narrow line of 
dark brown down their shafts ; all the upper surface dark brown, each feather broadly edged with whitish 
brown ; wings dark brown, with light shafts, and the tertiaries narrowly edged at the tip with light brown ; 
breast mottled light brown aud whitish, and with a stripe of dark brown down the shafts ; under surface lighter 
than the upper, and the feathers less conspicuously margined ; tail Avhite, stained with brown at the base, 
the longest coverts also white, mottled with brown at the base, with an irregular crescent of brown at the 
tip ; cere wine-yellow ; bill and legs straw-yellow ; claws black. 
The young birds have the feathers of the head and neck dark brown, with paler tips ; upper surface 
reddish brown, with dark shafts ; under surface brown, of different tints, with a few white feathers 
interspersed ; primaries broAvnish black ; tail variegated with hair and clove-brown, deepening towards 
the tip. 
The foremost figure represents a female, about one-third of the natural size. 
