62 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
ROYAL or GOLDEN EAGLE. 
(Falco falvus. Linn. Falco chrysa&tos . Ibid. Wilson, vii. p. 13. 
pi. 55. fig. 1. [young] ). 
Spec. Charact. — Dark brown; cere and toes yellow ; tail much 
rounded, extending beyond the folded wings ;• nostrils elliptic ; 
3 scales only upon the last joint of each toe; no white scapulary 
feathers. — Young , of an uniform, ferruginous brown, and with 
the feathers nearly all white towards the base ; tail white, with 
a broad terminal brown and mottled band, and no bars. 
This ancient monarch of the birds is found in all the 
cold and temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere, 
taking up his abode by choice in the great forests and 
plains, and in wild, desert, and mountainous regions. 
His eyry, commonly formed of an extensive set of 
layers of large sticks, is nearly horizontal, and occa- 
sionally extended between some rock and adjoining tree, 
as was the one described by Willughby in the Peak of 
Derbyshire. About 30 miles inland from the Mandan 
Fort on the Missouri, I once had occasion to observe the 
eyry of this noble bird, which here consisted of but a 
slender lining of sticks conveyed into a rocky chasm on 
the face of a lofty hill rising out of the grassy, open plain. 
It contained one young bird, nearly fledged, and almost of 
the color of the Gyrfalcon. It appears they lay 2 and rare- 
ly 3 eggs, of an impure white, blotched with red or red- 
dish. Near their rocky nests they are seen usually in 
pairs, at times majestically soaring to a vast height, and 
gazing on the sun towards which they ascend until they 
disappear from view. From this sublime elevation they 
often select their devoted prey, sometimes a kid or a lamb 
from the sporting flock, or the timid rabbit or hare 
crouched in the furrow, or sheltered in some bush. The 
largest birds are also frequently their victims ; and in 
extreme want they will not refuse to join with the alarm- 
