70 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
That this bird is not the White-tailed Eagle ( Falco 
albicilla ), or its young, the Sea Eagle ( F . ossifragus), is 
obvious from the difference in size alone, the male of 
that bird being little over 2 feet 4 inches in length, or a 
little less even than the Bald Eagle. The female of the 
Washington Eagle must, of course, be 6 or 8 inches 
longer, which will give a bird of unparalleled magnitude 
amongst the whole Eagle race. This measurement of 
the Sea Eagle is obtained from c Temminck’s Manual of 
Ornithology/ who has examined more than 50 individu- 
als. At the same time I have a suspicion that the Wash- 
ington Eagle, notwithstanding this, exists also in Europe ; 
as the great Sea Eagle of Brisson is described by this au- 
thor as being 3 feet 6 inches in length from the point of 
the bill to the end of the tail, and the stretch of the 
wings about 7 feet ! These measurements also are 
adopted by Buffon, but the individuals were evidently in 
young plumage, in which state, as described by Brisson, 
they again approach the present species. Nor need it be 
considered as surprising if 2 different species be con- 
fonnded in the Sea Eagle of Europe, as the recently 
established Imperial Eagle had ever been confounded 
with the Golden. Another distinguishing trait of the 
Washington Eagle is in the length of the tail, which is 
inches longer than the folded wings. In the White- 
tailed species this part never extends beyond the wings. 
The upper parts of the body were generally, in the adult, describ- 
ed by Audubon, of a dark, shining, coppery-brown. The throat, 
front of the neck, breast, and belly, of a rich and bright cinnamon 
color, the feathers of the whole of which were long, narrow, sharp- 
pointed and of a somewhat hairy texture, each dashed along the cen- 
tre with the dark brown of the back. Lesser wing-coverts rusty 
iron-grey, the same color extending from the shoulders to the lower 
end of the secondaries, and gradually passing into the brown of the 
back as it meets the scapulars. Primaries brown, darker on their 
