W I I I T E - T A I L E D E A G L E.
HALIAETUS ALBICILLA.
IT is not an uncommon occurrence lor this Eagle, while in the imnuilure stage, to make its appearance even
in the Booth.
The whole of the eyries that I am acquainted with in Great Britain arc placed in the Northern
Highlands and on some of the adjacent islands; this species, however, seems to he of n more rorfog disposition
than its relative the Golden Eagle; and hardly a season passes without specimens being either noticed or
captured in various parts between the Tweed and the English Channel. There arc few maritime count i.-s, |
believe, in England that cannot claim the Sea-Eagle as an occasional visitor; hut I have only had opportunities
of observing it in Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Sussex. In the two latter counties I have noticed it at least half
a dozen different times; though in not otic instance could I do more than simply recognize the sjiecics, the
distance being far too great for closer observation. I have also examined specimens that have been obtained in
these districts: in every case the birds were in the immature state, and in all proliahilily under I lie age of
twelve months. This is the plumage in which they are frequently described iu local publications as
magnificent specimens of the Golden Eagle.
Although at the present time rather beyond their usual range, I have now and then seen immature
birds that have taken up their quarters for a few mouths on the moors near the east coast of the Highlands ;
ami I hove nlso met with several in the north-west of Perthshire. In this part they arc noticed almost every
season during autumn, winter, or spring; as they arc usually observed frequenting the ground for a few
days only, it is probable that they arc on their passage from one part of the country to another. While on
a shootiiig-cxpcdilion in the neighbourhood I was informed by some of the keepers and gillies that years ego
the woods in the ltannocb district, especially those to the north-west of the loch, had been a favourite resort for
these birds. Whether they nested or not in this part my informants wero unable to t e l l ; but two old men
remarked that, on several occasions while crossing the country, about forty or fifty years ago, on their way from
the north {travelling by the rough track from Fort William to the upper part of Glenlyou that runs along the
west side of Loch llannoch), they had seen as many as a dozen or more sitting about on the stumps of old trees
on different parts of the moor as they passed along. I also lately learned from an old forester, a native of the
bmcs of llannocb, that in his younger days he rcmendjcred having seen packs of White-tailed Eagles, numbering
twenty and upwards, frequenting the moors from the west end of the loch on towards the county march. Ho
fully called to mind the fact that they nested in lar^-e numbers in the old trees, mostly birch, that were then
standing on the islands in the small lochs that arc scattered over the country in that direction. In different
parts 1 have at times come across the remnants of old nests in such situations. There [IRE no residents now in
the d i s t r i c t ; and those that arc seen ore probably driven from the west coast by stress of w cathcr to seek a
refuge for a time from the wintry blasts, where food and shelter are more readily obtained than on their own
bleak coasts,