I48 TlMEHRf. 
darker. In young examples, the back is nearly black, 
and there is a black band across the fore breast, with 
indications of black bars in many parts, especially on the 
legs, where the feathers project far down over the 
tarsus. 
This bird is a true inhabitant of the forest, and ranges 
in this district all over the colony. They have thus 
been shot on the Berbice, Demerara and on the lower 
Essequebo rivers, and they are more particularly met 
with in the elevated or hilly districts, where they will 
occasionally be found perching on the top of some dead 
giant of the forest, evidently the better to scour the sur- 
rounding country for their victims. They prey on all 
the larger birds such as macaws, and on mammals such as 
the deer and sloth — the latter especially being subject to 
their voracity since their only chances of escape lie in 
their protective colouring. In stock-raising countries 
they are much feared, as owing to their great strength, 
they do not hesitate to attack and kill sheep, pigs and 
calves. 
Though this bird, like the two following species, 
commonly goes by the name of Eagle, it does not belong 
to that group of birds — no true eagles being found in 
the colony. In the harpy, as in the next two forms, the 
back of the leg is covered with large plates as in the buz- 
zards, not with small reticulated scales as in the eagles. 
The so-called crested eagle (Morphnus guianensis) , 
though reaching nearly the same total length as the 
harpy, is readily distinguished from it by its much 
smaller build — the bill, body, and feet, being altogether 
thinner and weaker. It is a noticeable feature in the 
beak that the nostril is situated nearly at the top of the 
