THE TRUE EAGLES. 
157 
ashy-brown below, the secondary quills ashy-grey, mottled with 
brown the terminal third of the feather blackish ; tail ashy-grey, 
blackish at the tip and browner towards the base, the grey 
formin'^ an irregular band across the middle of the tail, the 
basal portion of which is also mottled with grey ; head brown, 
the nape and hind-neck rich tawny, the feathers lanceolate m 
shape with brown bases, and imparting a streaked appearance 
to this part of the neck; sides of the face light tawny, paler 
than the neck; cheeks and undersurface of body blackish, the 
feathers mostly brown at the base, and the feathers of the leg 
pale brown, as also the under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts 
blackish • cere yellow ; bill bluish horn-colour, darker at the 
tip; feet’ yellow, claws black; iris hazel. Total length, 32 
inches ; culmen, 2'6 ; wing, 24'5 ; tail, i3'o; tarsus, 3 7. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male in colour, but larger. 
Total length, 35-5 inches; wing, 27-5; tail, 13-0; tarsus, 3-8. 
Young Birds.— These can always be distinguished by the 
colour of the tail, which is white for more than the basal half, 
and brown for nearly the terminal half, so that there is a very 
broad band at the end of the tail ; otherwise the colour of the 
vouno' birds does not differ very much from that of the adults, 
excepting that there is a good deal of white at the bases of the 
feathers, especially on the under surface of the body, which is 
rather lighter brown than in the old birds. 
Nestling. — Covered with white down. 
Range in Great Britain.— The breeding-range of the Golden 
Eao’le is now restricted to the highlands of Scotland and some 
of the western isles, where the bird is protected, h ormerly 
it used to nest in the Orkneys, and also in the south of Scot- 
land while it has only been extinguished as a breeding bird in 
the Lake district during the last hundred years, and two cen- 
turies ago it nested in Wales and Derbyshire. Young birds 
of the present species occur in the lowlands of Scotland not 
unfrequently, and more rarely visit England, but the reported 
capturei of Golden Eagles generally refer to young White-tailed 
Eagles, which may always be distinguished by their bare legs. 
In Ireland, Mr. R. J. Ussher says the chief breeding-places 
of “ the Golden Eagle are now a few spots in Western Mayo. 
