borders of a lake; or, in districts which do not afford a suitable cliff, it selects for
the purpose a lofty, and for the most part a solitary tree. It lays one or two white
eggs, and the male, aocording to the Indians, takes its turn with the female in
the work of incubation. When the young ones are hatched, the industry with
which the parents provide them with food is often attested by the air being tainted,
to a considerable distance from the nest, by the smell of the fish that they are
unable to consume. The period of incubation is over by the middle of May; but
the young require the aid of their parents in procuring food until the month of
September.
The Bald Eagle resembles the Golden Eagle in the form of its wings, that are
obliquely truncated at the tips, the first feather being short, and the succeeding ones
gradually increasing in length to the fourth or fifth, which are the longest; the
remainder diminish successively, but less rapidly than the first ones increase. The
wings are otherwise large and powerful, and their rounded form, though it may
impair the rapidity of flight in a horizontal line, fits them better for soaring
aloft in the atmosphere than the acutely-pointed wings of the true Falcons. The
great size of the Eagles seems to render it necessary for them to watch their
prey from a height at which they appear to be a mere speck when viewed from
below, and they are accordingly endowed with an extraordinary acuteness
of vision. So great is the similarity of the Bald Eagle to the Golden Eagle
in certain states of plumage, that naturalists of no mean fame, as well as less
instructed observers, have often mistaken the one for the other. The partially
naked tarsi, however, of the Bald Eagle, with the sub-versatile outer toe
entirely separated from the middle one, form ready marks of distinction, connected
with its habit of seeking its prey in the waters; and there is also some difference
in the form of their bills, that of the Bald Eagle being more rounded on its ridge,
with its sides less inclined to each other. It is more difficult to find characters
that will serve to distinguish this species from the nearly allied one of the Cinereous
Eagle, or A . albicilla, of Europe. The pure white head and tail of the A . leuco-
cephala are sufficient to characterize the old bird ; but its young are so like those
of the A . albicilla, that Temminck considers the only marked difference to be in
the greater length of the tail of the former. On comparing the forms of the bills
of living birds of each species, I could observe the margin of the upper mandible
of the young A . leucacephala to be more nearly straight, there being only one very
obtuse lobe adjoining to the hooked point, whilst in A . albicilla the margin was
rendered more undulated by the presence of a second lobe posterior to the principal
one. These differences were, however, very slight even in the birds that
were compared, and may not be perceptible in all the individuals of the two
Species. The mature Bald Eagle is rather a smaller bird, and has in proportion
a smaller - head, than the Cinereous Eagle; its lores are more feathered ; and it
has a feeble cheeping cry like a hawk, different from the more decided scream of
the latter Eagle. Temminck informs us that the Cinereous Eagle is proper to
Europe, while the White-headed Eagle is Common to the northern hemispheres
of both the Old and New Worlds, although it occurs more abundantly in the latter.
RESC RIPT! ON
Of a mature bird, killed at Hudson’s Bay.
Colour of the head, greater part of the neck, and of the tail, including its upper and utidef
cöverts and the vent feathers, pure white. The back, wing coverts, breast, belly, and thighs,
are brownish-black, the margins of the feathers being paler, approaching to a soiled wood-
brown tint. The quill feathers are brownish-black, with paler shafts. Bill straw-yellow.
Cere greenish-yellow. Irides wine-yellow. Tarsi yellow. Claws blackish-brown.
F orm, &c.—Bill three and a half inches long, and very strong, with a convex ridge curved
in a regular arc from the cere to the tip. There is a very obtuse and slightly-prominent lobe
on the cutting margin of the upper mandible, immediately beyond which the point of the bill
droops abruptly to form its hook. The upper surface of the cere is flattened. The lores are
clothed with short white hairs and feathers that project over the nostrils. The nostrils are
large, oblong, with one softer margin, which moves as the bird respires; and they have an
obliquely transverse direction. The eyebrow projects considerably, and the eye is turned
obliquely forwards. The feathers on the head are triangular, and towards the base of the neck
they become long and pointed. The tips of the folded wings reach to the middle of the tail.
The quill feathers are acute j the fourth is the longest, the third nearly equals it; the fifth is
about a quarter of an inch, and the second is more than an inch shorter than the fourth; the
sixth is an inch shorter than the second, or an inch and three-quarters shorter than the fifth;
while the first is three inches and a half shorter than the second, an d just exceeds the seventh,
which is two inches and a half shorter than the sixth. The outer webs of these feathers,
from the second to the sixth inclusive, are strongly sinuated •, and the inner webs, from the first
to the fifth inclusive, are still more deeply and abruptly emarginated. The tail is rounded.
The tarsi are feathered for more than half their length $ their naked part is covered with small,
rounded, convex scales at the base and behind, and is protected anteriorly next the feathers
by five large transverse scales. The hind toe is short and strong, and is armed with a larger
nail than the others. The inner fore toe is a little longer than the hind one, its claw being,
however, somewhat smaller; the middle toe is considerably longer, but it is at the same
time more slender and has a much smaller nail. The outer toe, though a little longer than
the inner one, is the most slender and has the smallest nail of all. There are eight or ten large
transverse shield-like scales on the middle toe, four on the hind and inner fore ones, and five
on the outer one t all their basés are reticulated. The claws are strong, much curved, and
acute; and the middle one has a sharp-edged groove on its inner side.
D 2