A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3

Though the Golden Eagles of North America can be distinguished by the characters given in the diagnosis on p. 312 from those of Europe, the differences are appreciable only on direct comparison. The American bird is darker in all its shades of color, the difference being most marked in the young plumage, which in var. chrysaëtus has the tarsal features nearly white, and in var. canadensis light brown, the brown of other portions being also considerably darker. The American bird appears to be rather the larger.

Habits. The Ring-tailed or Golden Eagle of North America is found throughout the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from New Mexico to the higher Arctic regions.

In its geographical distribution, the Golden Eagle of North America appears to be chiefly confined to the mountainous regions, and the more northern portions, but to be nowhere abundant. Sir John Richardson saw but few individuals in the Arctic regions, nor does he appear ever to have met with its nest. Individual birds on the Atlantic coast have been occasionally obtained,—once as far south as Philadelphia, twice at Washington,—but very rarely. Several specimens appear to have been obtained among the mountains of New Mexico by Dr. Henry’s party.

Although not mentioned by either Dr. Heermann or Dr. Gambel in their lists of the birds of California, it was found in Oregon by Dr. Townsend, and is said by Dr. Cooper to be quite common in almost all parts of California during the colder months. It is, however, much less numerous than the White-headed Eagle. It is very much more a mountain bird, and its descent into the plains or to the sea-coast is said to be quite rare. Dr. Adolphus Heermann, in his Report of the survey between Fort Yuma and San Francisco, speaks of seeing one of these birds near Livermore Pass, and of meeting others in Northern California, and of an individual killed in the mountains near Mokelumne River. He regarded it, both in that state and elsewhere, as a rare and wild bird. It is not mentioned as occurring in Greenland. It was found breeding in Napa Valley, Cal., by Mr. F. Gruber.

Aquila chrysaëtus.

A bird was secured alive in Brighton, near Boston, in 1837, by being taken in a trap which had been set for another purpose. Its occurrence, however, near the sea-coast, is very rare, and even among the mountains it is never found except in occasional pairs. It breeds in the mountainous portions of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, and was formerly not unfrequent among the cliffs of the Hudson River. Steamboats and railroads have, however, driven this wild bird from its romantic retreats in that quarter. In Franconia, N. H., for quite a number of years, a pair occupied a nest on an inaccessible rock, near the top of a mountain, known as Eagle Cliff, in sight of, and opposite, the Profile House. Repeated efforts have been made to reach its nest, but thus far without success. In the summer of 1855 a renewed attempt was made to scale the precipice over which the shelving rock, on which the nest stands, projects. A party was formed, and although they succeeded in ascending the mountain, which had never been achieved before, they could reach only a point beyond and above, not the nest itself. The attempt to pass to it was abandoned as too perilous. The party reported a large collection of bones in its immediate vicinity, with other evidences of the accumulated plunder of many years, as well as a plentiful supply of fresh food at the time visited.

Without here seeking to affect the question of identity of species, it is interesting to note certain peculiarities in the European Golden Eagle so far not noticed or of rare occurrence in the American birds. Mr. I. W. P. Orde in the Ibis of 1861 (p. 112), gives a very interesting account of a pair of Golden Eagles, which the previous season built their nest in a large Scotch fir-tree, in a wood on the southern bank of Glen Lyon, in Perthshire, within a few hundred yards of Meggerine Castle. Four eggs were laid, two of which were hatched. The nest was one of the Eagles’ own construction, and is specially interesting from being in such near proximity to human habitations. Mr. Tristram (Ibis, 1859, p. 283, in his valuable note on the birds of North Africa), while he never observed this Eagle in any of the cliffs among the mountain ranges of the desert, found it almost gregarious, so abundant was it among the Dayets. In one wood he saw no less than seven pairs of the Eagles, each pair with a nest. There were, besides, many unoccupied nests, and, indeed, very few terebinths of any size were without a huge platform of sticks on the topmost boughs. The birds were undisturbed, and consequently very fearless. On the other hand Mr. Salvin, in the same volume (p. 180) among the mountains of Eastern Atlas, describes very different manner of life in the same birds. “Whatever rock a pair may choose for their eyrie, there they reign alone in dignified solitude, nor do they allow a single Vulture, Kite, or indeed any other species of rapacious bird, to occupy with their nest a single spot in the same rock, however eligible for the purpose; nor are these other species ever to be seen in the haunts of their exclusive majesties. The whole southern precipice at Djebel Dekma was thus tenanted by a single pair of this Eagle, as also several other rocks that came under our notice. Instances of the Golden Eagle building in trees were by no means of unfrequent occurrence.”

12006, ♀. nat. size.

Aquila canadensis.

The extreme southern range of the European bird, its gregarious habit, and the frequency of its building in trees, are all peculiarities not observed in the American form. They are not necessarily conclusive, but are at least suggestive.

The Golden Eagle in this country usually constructs its nest on the sides of steep, rocky crags, where its materials are coarsely heaped together on a projecting shelf of rock. These consist of large sticks, loosely arranged, and lined with other softer materials. In rare instances they are said to build on trees, where rocky cliffs are not to be met with. The eggs are usually three in number; sometimes two, or only one. Mr. Audubon describes them as measuring 3.50 inches in length by 2.50 in breadth; the shell thick and smooth, dull white, brushed over with undefined patches of brown, which are most numerous at the larger end. This description is not quite accurate in regard to size. The European egg is presumed to be larger than the American, yet the largest I have ever seen measures but 3.19 inches in length by 2.31 in breadth. An egg of the European bird in the British Museum, and another represented in Hewitson’s British Oölogy, which closely resembled it, were marked over the entire surface with small but distinct blotches of reddish-brown on a white ground. One in my collection, taken in Scotland, is nearly unmarked. A distinctly bluish-white ground is faintly stained with a few very obscure markings of slate and purplish-brown.

Mr. MacFarlane furnishes very full and interesting notes and observations on the habits of our canadensis, as attentively studied by him in the neighborhood of Anderson River, near the Arctic Ocean. Our limits will only permit us to give a summary of his valuable memoranda. In a large majority of instances the nests were built against the face of a steep bank, some sixty or seventy feet from the ground, and about thirty from the summit. They were very strongly constructed with dry sticks, usually of willow, and formed a platform on the top, in the centre of which the eggs were found on a bed composed of moss, hay, and feathers. These platforms were usually about six by seven feet, and ranged from four to six in height. It is said to be “not very scarce in that quarter,” and to be “a resident, in the summer, of the entire Arctic coast and rivers.” Mention is made of ten nests observed by him, and eggs taken therefrom. In several instances these eggs were white and unspotted, exciting his doubts whether they might belong to the leucocephalus.

According to Mr. MacFarlane they feed on ducks, mice, and other small animals, partridges, and the fawn of the reindeer. In confinement they are fierce and nearly untamable, though they readily eat the food that is given them, whether fish or meat. Even when taken young from the nest they evince the same fearless and intractable disposition. In one instance a young female killed its older companion by piercing it with her talons. When first observed, she was standing on and plucking the feathers from the body of the slain bird. This was the second bird this same ferocious, but comparatively tame, Eagle had thus destroyed. When the cage was removed outside, though the weather was very cold, the Eagles did not seem to mind it much, but exercised themselves with jumping off and on their roosting-pole, and seemed very much interested in all that was taking place within the Fort square. They kept their plumage in a cleanly condition, and were generally a very clean bird in all respects. During the fine weather the Eagles were more lively than on other occasions. When feeding they drooped both wings, and, if disturbed, arched their necks and moved their heads in a threatening manner, spreading out their tails like a fan. They grasped the meat or fish in the talons of either leg, and tore it with their beaks. After feeding, they invariably removed any blood or other impurities that may have adhered to the beak by scratching it with their talons or rubbing it against the bars of their cage. Several of these birds, in confinement, especially the female referred to, when their cage was approached, would endeavor to attack Mr. MacFarlane, descending from their sleeping-pole and making a rush at the front bars of the cage, spreading the wings and flapping them with great force, and making active demonstrations with beak and talons. Occasionally they would get out of their cages; then it was no easy matter to get them back again, as, when approached, they would throw themselves on their backs and thrust out their talons in the most formidable manner. They nest as early as the last of April or early in May, as largely developed embryos were found on the 27th of May. When their nests were pillaged they generally deserted them; but in one instance, where the female had been snared upon her nest, and the eggs taken, the same nest was occupied the following season by the male with another mate. The new mate was shot, and proved to be a mature bird. Almost invariably the male birds were too wary to be either shot or taken in a snare. Two of the nests of this bird, pointed out by the Indians, appeared to have been used for several years, and had been known to their discoverers for six or seven years previous. The nests taken were in about latitude 69° 30′.

In one particular case a nest had been discovered two years previously by MacFarlane’s Esquimo interpreter. It had been occupied that season, and a pair of Eagles had been recognized as its inmates. In 1863 the nest was known to have been reoccupied, though he did not visit it. On the 17th of May, 1864, he went to it and found both Eagles engaged in repairing it. The female appeared to act as the builder, and the male as the carrier of the materials, as well as the provider of provisions. The nest was not complete, and contained two half-eaten Ptarmigans, but no eggs. It was built against the face of a steep bank of a small stream, and was of considerable bulk. When first constructed, the nest of this Eagle is comparatively small, but as it is renovated every season, it ultimately becomes large and bulky. A quantity of dry sticks and twigs are laid lengthways over the greater portion of the platform of the previous season, and the spaces between are filled up by smaller twigs, mosses, and hay, and the centre is then covered with the two latter ingredients, intermixed with deer’s hair, etc. This annual addition varies in thickness from three to eighteen inches. In no instance did Mr. MacFarlane find or hear of any accumulation of bones or other débris of food either on or in the neighborhood of the nests. In three instances the nests were constructed in the tops of tall pines. In these cases the sandy nature of the soil did not favor their building on the sides of cliffs.

The “Mountain Eagle,” as this species is called throughout the western regions of the United States, was found by Mr. Ridgway to be a common species throughout the Great Basin along the line of the 40th parallel. It was daily seen soaring about the mountains, and nested on inaccessible cliffs. A pair—the female leading—were observed to give chase to a Sage Hen (Centrocercus urophasianus), chasing her on the wing until the fugitive dropped down to the ground from exhaustion, when she was picked up by the foremost of the Eagles, who then flew off together to the summit of the mountain range (the East Humboldt) near by, where they probably had their nest.

An egg of this bird, taken by Mr. R. MacDonald among the mountains west of the Lower Mackenzie River, measures 2.60 inches in length by 2.18 in breadth. The ground-color is of a rich pinkish cream-color, boldly dashed with large blotches of three or four varying shades of umber-brown, intermingled with a few finer markings of a lighter shade of brown, and a few clouded markings of a purplish-slate. These markings are grouped and confluent about the smaller end. Other specimens vary to whitish, with faint obsolete blotches.

Genus HALIAËTUS, Savigny

Haliaëtus, Savig. 1809. (Type, Falco albicilla, Linn.)

Thalassoaëtus, Kaup, 1844. (Type, Falco pelagicus, Pallas.)

Cuncuma, Hodgson, 1837. (Type, Falco macei, Temm.)

Pontoaëtus, Kaup, 1844. (Same type.)

Blagrus, Blas. 1849. (Same type.)

Polioaëtus, Kaup, 1847. (Type, Falco icthyaëtus, Horsf.)

Icthyiaëtus, Lafr. 1839 (nec Kaup, 1829). (Same type.)

Gen. Char. Form robust, and organization powerful, as in Aquila; size large. Bill very large, usually somewhat inflated, the chord of the arch of the culmen more than twice the length of the cere on top; commissure with a more or less distinct festoon and sinuation behind it. Nostril oval, obliquely vertical. Feet robust and strong, the tarsus less than one and a half times the middle toe; tarsus feathered in front and on the sides for about one half its length; front of the tarsus and top of the toes with an imperfectly continuous series of transverse scutellæ, entirely interrupted in the region of the digito-tarsal joint; the other portions covered with roundish, somewhat granular, scales, these larger on the posterior face. Claws large, strongly curved, and more obtuse, and less graduated in size, than in Aquila. No trace of a web between outer and middle toes. Wing very large, the primaries well developed and strong; third to fifth quill longest; first longer than the ninth; outer five to six with inner webs deeply emarginated. Tail variable in length and shape, usually short and rounded, cuneate and with fourteen feathers in H. pelagicus, and nearly even, and with twelve feathers, in H. macei, the rest all having twelve feathers, varying in form with the species. Feathers of the neck, all round, lanceolate.

The species of this very strongly marked genus vary between great extremes in the details of their external structure; but these variations I consider to be mainly specific, though two well-defined subgeneric divisions should be made, one to include the Old World H. leucogaster, H. vocifer, and H. icthyætus, which have five, instead of six, outer quills, with their inner webs cut, and the tarsus with the frontal and posterior rows of broad transverse scutellæ nearly as well developed and continuous as in Buteo. The last of these species has the claws nearly uniform in size, and contracted and rounded underneath almost as much as in Pandion; but the other species are less so, each differing in this respect, so that I consider this as only indicating the greatest perfection in the specialization of the piscatorial type of modified structure. In the possession of fourteen tail-feathers, its very large bill, naked lores, and general aspect, the H. pelagicus shows an approach to the Old World Vultures.

About nine species are known, of which only two belong to North America, one of them (H. leucocephalus) being peculiar to that continent. Tropical America is without a single representation of the genus. The majority of the species belong to the Indian region, only the H. albicilla and H. pelagicus belonging to the Palæarctic Realm, the former representing the western, and the latter peculiar to the eastern, district of that zoögeographical division; it is the former which straggles into the Nearctic fauna. The habits of the Sea Eagles differ considerably from those of the true Eagles (Aquila) in very important respects; they frequent the shores of the sea, lakes, or large rivers, instead of mountainous portions, and feed chiefly—some of the species entirely—on fish. Those of the subgenus Polioaëtus are almost precisely like Pandion in their habits.

52509,♀ ? ¼

9128,♀. ¼

9128,♀. ¼

28100.(♀ ?) ¼

9128,♀ ? ¼

52509 : 9128. Haliaëtus leucocephalus. 28100. H. pelagicus.

The three closely allied species belonging to the northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere may be distinguished by the characters given in the following synopsis.

Species and Races

Common Characters. Adult. Bill, cere, and iris yellow. Tail, and sometimes the head and neck, white. Young. Bill and cere black; iris dark brown. Tail, head, and neck, blackish.

28100,(♀ ?). nat. size.

28100,(♀ ?). ¼

Haliaëtus pelagicus.

A. Tail of fourteen feathers, cuneate, or graduated, for nearly half its length. Nostril with its lower end acute, bevelled gradually to the level of the cere; upper outline of the cere very convex; lore naked.

1. H. pelagicus.93 Wing, 24.50–26.00; tail, 13.50–16.00; culmen, 2.60; depth of bill, 1.80; cere, on top, 1.10; tarsus, 3.50; middle toe, 2.95. Adult. Forehead, greater wing-coverts, abdomen, and tail, white; other portions blackish-brown (Auct.). Young. Dark umber or blackish-brown, the feathers of the head and neck with lighter shaft-streaks; tertials (except at ends) and basal third, or more, of inner webs of tail-feathers, white; tail-coverts much mixed with the same. Hab. Northeastern Asia.

B. Tail of twelve feathers, only slightly rounded. Lower end of the nostril rounded, opening more abruptly inward; upper outline of the cere nearly straight; lores scantily feathered.

2. H. albicilla. Wing, 23.00–28.00; tail, 11.50–16.00; culmen, 2.05–2.20; tarsus, 3.30–3.80; middle toe, 2.50–2.95; depth of bill about 1.45; cere, on top, .85. Adult. Head and neck pale grayish-fulvous, or dirty yellowish-gray, not abruptly lighter than the body. Tail, only, pure white. Rest of the plumage, including the tail-coverts, dark grayish-brown, inclining to blackish on the primaries. Young. Prevailing tint of the upper parts light isabella-color, or pale grayish-cinnamon, each feather having a terminal triangular spot of blackish-brown. Breast soiled white, with broad stripes of brownish-black; rest of the lower parts nearly uniform fulvous-brown, the tibiæ darker. Hab. Europe; Egypt; Greenland.

3. H. leucocephalus. Wing, 20.00–26.00; tail, 10.50–15.50; culmen, 1.85–2.20; tarsus, 2.65–3.70; middle toe, 2.35–3.10; depth of bill about 1.30; cere, on the top, .80. Adult. Head and neck, tail and tail-coverts, pure white, immaculate (except in transition dress). Rest of the plumage brownish-black. Young. Brownish-black, showing much concealed white at the bases of the feathers; ground-color inclining to umber-brown on the upper surface; on the lower parts, the basal white much exposed and predominating, the blackish forming longitudinal, tear-shaped spots. Head and neck brownish-black, the penicillated feathers of the nape seldom with whitish points. Tail-feathers and primaries black, the inner webs usually more or less marked, longitudinally, with buffy-whitish. Hab. The whole of North America.

Sp. Char. Young female(?) (28,100, Amoor River; Mr. Burlingame). Form: very similar to H. albicilla and H. leucocephala, but bill altogether more robust, and feet rather less so, than in these. Tail, of fourteen feathers! graduated for about one half its length. Dimensions: About the size of the female of the two other species. Color: Generally dusky vandyke-brown, a medial line on the lanceolate feathers of the neck, and the border of the squamate ones of the tibiæ, decidedly lighter. Entire plumage white at the base, this exposed wherever the feathers are disarranged, and prevailing on the crissum. Tertials, basal half of inner webs of primaries, the whole tail, and upper tail-coverts, white with a yellowish tinge. Tertials, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers, with a large terminal spot of clear grayish-black; on the tail these form a rather irregular terminal zone, being on the middle feather narrower, and broken into fine blotches. Bill, cere, lore, and feet, yellow; end of upper mandible, and the claws, black. Wing-formula, 3, 4, 2, 5–6–7=1. Wing, 24.50; tail, 13.50; culmen, 2.60; depth of bill, 1.80; cere, on top, 1.10; tarsus, 3.50; middle toe, 2.95.

Haliaetus albicilla (Linn.)GRAY SEA-EAGLE

Aquila albicilla, Briss. Orn. I, 427, 1760.—Pall. Zoog. Ross. As. I, 345, 1811.—Benick. Isis, 1824, pp. 878, 892.—Swains. Classif. B. II, 207, 1837.—Kuhl. Beiträg. Zool. pt. i, p. 76 (anat.), 1820.—Tyzenhauz, Rev. Zoöl. 1848, p. 235.—Bailly, Orn. Sav. I, 110, 1853.—S. Longch. Faun. Belg. p. 53, 1842. Vultur albicilla, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 123, 1766. Falco albicilla, Penn. Brit. Zoöl. p. 61, pl. A, 1812; ed. 8vo, 1812, I, 209, pl. xviii.—Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 253, 1789.—Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 9, 1790; Syn. I, 33, 1781; Supp. I, 11, 1802; Gen. Hist. I, 46 A, 1821.—Odmann, Nov. Act. Soc. Ups, IV, 225.—Shaw, Zoöl. VII, 79, 1812.—Temm. Man. Orn. pt. i, 49; pt. iii, 26, 1820; Tab. Méth. p. 3, 1836.—Kittl. Kupf. Vög. pl. ii, f. 2, 1832.—Brunn. Orn. Bor. p. 3, 1764.—Faber, Prod. Island, Orn. p. 1, 1822.—Naum. Nat. Vög. Deutschl. ed. nov. I, 224, pls. xii, xiii, xiv, 1822; Nachtr. p. 330, pl. ix, f. 17.—Frisch, Vög. Deutschl. pl. lxix, 70, 1739. Haliaëtus albicilla, Cuv. Reg. Anim. (ed. 1), I, 315, 1817; (ed. 2), I, 336, 1829.—Benn. Gard. Zoöl. Soc. II, 33, 1831.—Wern. Atl. Ois. Eur. 1826.—Less. Man. Orn. I, 85, 1828.—Vig. Raffl. Life, p. 648. Selby, Brit. Orn. I, 18, pl. iii, iiix, 1833.—Gould, B. Eur. pl. x, 1837.—Bonap. Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 3, 1838; Cat. Ucc. Eur. p. 19, 1842; Consp. Av. p. 15, 1850; Rev. et Mag. Zoöl. p. 531, 1854.—Cass. B. Calif. & Tex. I, p. 111, 1854.—Gray, Gen. B. p. 3; ed. 2, p. 4; fol. sp. 1, pl. vii, fig. 8.—Brehm. Vög. Deutschl. I, 14, pl. iii, f. 1, 1831.—Cass. Birds N. Am. 43, 1858.—Sclat. Pr. Z. S. 1863, 257 (found in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia—this disproven!).—Elliot, Birds N. A. I. Haliaëtus albicilla, Gray, Hand List, I, 16, 1869. Aquila ossifraga, Briss. Orn. I, p. 437 (Juv.), 1760.—Kuhl, Beiträg. Zoöl. pt. i, p. 60, pl. iv, figs. 1, 3, 3; pl. v, f. 1. Falco ossifragus, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 124, 1766.—Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 255, 1789.—Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 12, 1790; Syn. I, 30, 1781; Supp. I, 9, 1802; Gen. Hist. I, 48 (Juv.), 1821.—Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 64, 1800.—Shaw, Zoöl. VII, pl. xviii, 1809.—Raffl. Linn. Tr. VIII, 277 (var.). Aquila leucocephala, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch. Vögelk. p. 16, 1810. Falco melanotus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 254, 1789. Falco albicaudus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 258, 1789. Falco hinularius, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 15, 1790; Syn. I, 39, sp. 16, 1781; Gen. Hist. I, 47 B, 1821.—Shaw, Zoöl. VII, 80, 1809. Falco pygargus, Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 62, 1800. Falco albicilla borealis, Faber, Isis, 1827, p. 56; Prod. Island, Orn. p. 1, 1822. Haliætus nisus, Savig. Descr. Egyp. pt. i, 86, 1809.—Vieill. Faun. Franç. p. 10, pl. v, figs. 1, 2.—Degl. Mém. Soc. Sc. Lille, 1831, p. 213.—Less. Tr. Orn. p. 40, pl. viii, fig. 2, 1831.—Roux, Orn. Prod. I, 16, pl. ix, x, 1825.