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SEA EAGLE. 
the Bald Eagle, feathered a little below the knee ; irides, a 
bright straw colour ; head above, neck, and back, streaked 
with light brown, deep brown, and white, the plumage being 
white, tipt and centered with brown ; scapulars, brown ; lesser 
wing-coverts, very pale, intermixed with white ; primaries, 
black, their shafts brownish white ; rump, pale brownish 
white ; tail, rounded, somewhat longer than the wings, when 
shut, brown on the exterior vanes, the inner ones white, 
sprinkled with dirty brown ; throat, breast, and belly, white, 
dashed and streaked with different tints of brown and pale 
yellow ; vent, brown, tipt with white ; femorals, dark brown, 
tipt with lighter ; auriculars, brown, forming a bar from below 
the eye backwards ; plumage of the neck, long, narrow, and 
pointed, as is usual with Eagles, and of a brownish colour, 
tipt with white. 
The Sea Eagle is said, by various authors, to hunt at night, 
as well as during the day, and that, besides fish, it feeds on 
chickens, birds, hares, and other animals. It is also said to 
catch fish during the night ; and that the noise of its plunging 
into the water is heard at a great distance. But, in the 
descriptions of these writers, this bird has been so frequently 
confounded with the Osprey, as to leave little doubt that the 
habits and manners of the one have been often attributed to 
both, and others added that are common to neither. 
[The following addition is made by Mr Ord, but I have in 
many instances found the reverse. I have had the Golden 
Eagle and Peregrime perfectly tame, and even playful. Three 
Sea Eagles with me now are very savage: — “The Bald 
Eagle may be tamed, so as to become quite sociable, permitting 
one to handle it at pleasure, and even seeming pleased with 
such familiarities. The Hawks, on the contrary, are apt to 
retain their savage nature under the kindest treatment ; and, 
like the cat, will frequently remind one, on the slightest 
provocation, to beware of those powerful weapons with which 
nature has provided them.”] 
