WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE. 
89 
WHITE-PIE ADED, OR BALD EAGLE.* — FALCO 
LEUCOCEPHALUS.— Plate XXXVI. 
Linn. Syst. 124. — Lath. i. 29 Le pygargue a tete blanche, Bvff. i. 99, PI. enl. 
411. — Arct. Zool. 196, No. 89. — Bald Eagle, Cate shy, i. 1. — P cole's Museum , 
No. 78. 
HALIJEETUS LEVCOCEPHAL VS. — SAviGNY.f 
Aigle a tete blanche, Cuv. Pegn. Anim. i. p. 315 Temm. Man. i. p. 52. — Falco 
leucocephalus, (sub-gen. Haliseetus,) Bonap. Synop. p. 26 The White-headed 
Eagle, Aud. Orn. Biog. i. p. 160, pi. 31, male. — Aquila (Haliseetus) leucoce- 
phala, North. Zool. ii. p. 15. 
This distinguished bird, as lie is the most beautiful of his 
tribe in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our 
country, is entitled to particular notice. He is represented in 
the plate of one third his natural size, and was drawn from 
* The epithet bald applied to this species, whose head is thickly eovered 
with feathers, is equally improper and absurd with the titles Goatsucker, 
Kingsfisher, &c. bestowed on others ; and seems to have been occasioned by 
the white appearance of the head, when contrasted with the dark colour of the 
rest of the plumage. The appellation, however, being now almost universal, 
is retained in the following pages. 
f This species and the Sea Eagle of Europe have been thought to be the 
same by many ornithologists ; some of a latter date appear still to confound 
them, and to be unable to satisfy themselves regarding the distinction. The 
subject has even been left in doubt in a work which has been recommended as 
a text-book to the British student. They are decidedly distinct, the one being 
the representing form of the other in their respective countries. The common 
Sea Eagle, Haliceetus albicilla, is, I believe, exclusively European ; the H. leuco- 
cephalus , according to Temminck, is common to the northern hemispheres of 
both the Old and New World, though much more abundant in the latter. The 
adult birds may be at once distinguished, and the confusion can only have arisen 
from the similarity of the young : when closely compared, they will also be 
found to possess considerable distinctions. 
In habit, too, there is a difference. I have had both species alive in my 
possession for several years ; that of America, more active and restless in 
disposition, is constantly in motion, and incessantly utters its shrill barking 
cry. Both species are difficult to be tamed, but the stranger will hardly 
allow his cage to be cleaned out. Though four years old, the head and tail 
