6 2 
B 
D 
S. 
H ' 
I 
[ Clafs. II. 
in his hiftory of Kerry , relates that a poor man in 
that county got a comfortable fiibfiftence for his 
family, during a fummer of famine, out of an 
eagle’s neft, by robbing the eaglets of the food 
the old ones brought, whofe attendance he pro¬ 
tracted beyond the natural time, by clipping the 
wings and retarding the flight of the former. It 
is very unfafe to leave infants by themfelves in pla- 
ces where eagles frequent 5 there being inftances 
in Scotland * of two being carried off by them, 
but fortunately, 
Illaefum timidis unguibus htefit onus, 
for the theft was difcovered in time, and the chil¬ 
dren reftored unhurt out of the eagles nefts, to the 
affrighted parents. In order to extirpate thefe 
pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney ifles, 
which entitles any perfon that kills an eagle to an 
hen out of every houfe in the parifh, in which it 
c was killed f . 
* Martin’s Hift. Weft ern TJles, 299. Sib. Hi ft. Sect. 14. 
f Cambderis Brit.l. 1474. The impreffion of an eagle and child on the 
coin of the IJle of Man, was probably owing to fome accident of this 
kind. 
SPECIES II. The Ringtail Eagle. 
W - * • ^ ; *♦ ’ ‘ *- .... , , 
Golden Eagle, with a white ring White tailed eagle. Edw. 1. 
about its tail. IVil. orn. 59. Falco fulvus. Lin. fyft. 88. 
Rail fyn. av. 6. Briffon av. I. 420. 
HIS bird is common to the northern 
parts of Europe and America 3 that 
figured by Mr. Edwards , differing only 
in fome white fpots on the breaft, from 
our fpecies. It is equal in fize to the precedent: 
the bill is of a blackifh horn color3 the cere 
yellow 3 the whole body is of a deep brown, 
{lightly tinged with ruft color 3 but what makes 
a long defeription of this kind unneceffary, is the 
remarkable band of white on the upper part of 
the tail 3 the end only, being of a deep brown 
which charaCIer it maintains thro’ every ftage of 
life, and in all countries where it is found. The 
legs are feathered to the feet: the toes yellow, 
the claws black. Mr. JVilloughly gives the follow-, 
ing very curious account of the neft of this 
fpecies. 
‘ In the year of our Lord 1668, in the wood- 
< lands near the river Derwent , in the Peak of 
* DerbyfhirCy was found an eagle’s neft made of 
« great fticks, reft ing one end on the edge of a 
c rock, the other on two birch trees 5 upon which 
c was a layer of rufhes, and over them a layer of 
c heath, and upon the heath rufhes again 3 upon 
4 which lay one young one, and an addle egg 3 and 
c by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath poults. 
‘ The neft was about two yards fquare, and had 
‘ no hollow in it. The young eagle was black as 
4 a hobby, of the fhape of a gofhawk, of almoft 
4 the weight of a goofe, rough footed, or feathered 
4 down to the foot 3 having a white ring about 
4 the tail. WiL orn. 21. 
•» ’ 
The antients believed, that the pebble, com¬ 
monly called the JEtites , or eagle ftone, was 
formed in the eagle’s neft 3 and that the eggs 
could not be hatched without its affiftance. 
Many abfurd ftories have been raifed about this 
foflil, which (as it bears but an imaginary relation 
to the eagle) muft be omitted in a zoologic work*f\ 
f If the readers curiofity fhould be excited, we hope it will foon be 
gratified, by the fequel of Mr. Daco/ias hiftory of foffils. The judge¬ 
ment, accuracy, and indefatigable attention of that writer, are fo well 
known to the learned world, that we may juftly expect, in the courfe 
of his woj-k, a particular account of this Angular production. 
SPECIES 
\ 
