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

Sp. Char. Adult male (56,034, Europe; Schlüter Collection). Plumage almost continuously umber-brown, becoming black on the primaries; on the head and neck approaching pale grayish-brown. Tail (but not the coverts) white, much mottled with dusky at base; shafts of the quills white. Wing-formula, 3–2=4–5–6, 1. Wing, 23.00; tail, 11.50; culmen, 2.20; depth of bill, 1.45; cere, above, .85; tarsus, 3.30; middle toe, 2.50; outer, 2.00; inner, 1.70; posterior, 1.40. Bill and feet yellow.

Young. Head and neck blackish-brown, feathers whitish beneath the surface, the long pencillate feathers of the nape tipped inconspicuously with the same; prevailing color of the upper surface isabella-color (much more reddish than in corresponding age of leucocephalus) each feather with a terminal triangular spot of blackish-brown; tertials more whitish. Secondaries rich dark brown; primaries deep black, their shafts dark brown. Tail brownish-black much spotted with isabella-color, or soiled creamy-white, this occupying most of the inner webs. Breast soiled white, each feather with a conspicuous broad medial stripe of brownish-black; abdomen more fulvous; tibiæ nearly uniform dark brown. Rump nearly uniform vinaceous-fulvous. Bill black. Feet yellow.

Male (56,037, North Europe; Schlütter Coll.). Wing, 26.00; tail, 12.50; culmen, 2.20.

Female (56,039, North of Europe; Schlütter Coll.). Wing, 28.00; tail, 16.00; culmen, 2.45; depth of bill, 1.55; cere above, .70; tarsus, 3.65; middle toe, 3.50.

Hab. Europe and in Greenland.

LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED

National Museum, 3; Philadelphia Academy, 3; New York Museum, 2; Boston Society, 2; Cambridge Museum, 1. Total, 11.

Habits. The White-tailed or Gray Sea Eagle is common to the sea-coast of Europe, where it inhabits only the parts of the country adjacent to the sea, and rears its young on the cliffs. It occurs in Greenland, and is on that ground included in the fauna of North America. It has not yet been traced south of Greenland, nor has it been found in any part of our continent.

The Sea Eagle in Europe is rarely found inland. It builds its nest on rocky cliffs projecting over the water, on the shores of Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Norway, Russia, etc. The nest is constructed of sticks, or, where these are not convenient, of seaweed. The eggs are two or three in number. Their ground-color is a clear white, usually unmarked, but occasionally stained with small, faint spots of light brown. The measurements of two in my collection, both from Scotland, but obtained at different times by H. F. Walter, Esq., of London, are as follows: Length 2.69 inches, breadth 2.19 inches; length 2.13 inches, breadth 2.25 inches.

Haliatus albicilla (Europe).

The following, in relation to their breeding and distribution, is taken from Mr. Yarrell’s excellent work on the Birds of Great Britain:—

“The White-tailed Eagle builds its nest on high rocks, and lays two eggs, about the same size of those of the Golden Eagle, but with very little or no red color on the white ground. The young are at first covered with a soiled white down, and even at this age the beaks and claws of the eaglets are of very large size. A pair of Golden Eagles have been known to rear their young in the same spot for eight seasons in succession; and Mr. Mudie has mentioned that, being thus attached to a particular locality, their young, when able to provide for themselves, are driven away by the parent birds to get their living elsewhere; but the more erratic White-tailed Eagles, quitting the breeding station when the season is ended, leave their young to forage over the district in which they have been raised. In confinement, the White-tailed Eagle sometimes becomes sociable.... One kept by Mr. Hoy laid three eggs in the same season; and a female in the possession of Mr. Selby laid an egg after having been kept in confinement twenty years.... The White-tailed Eagle breeds in the Hebrides, in Orkney and Shetland. Mr. Dunn, in his useful Guide to these latter islands, names the particular localities in which they may be found, but states that they are much more numerous in winter than in summer. This accords with the opinion of Mr. Temminck and others that this species returns to the southward from high northern latitudes as the season advances.... This Eagle frequents Denmark, Sweden, the west coast of Norway, and from thence as far north as Iceland and Greenland, but is not found in North America. Mr. Temminck believes that this Eagle follows the flocks of geese that annually resort to the Arctic regions in summer to rear their young. It is found in Siberia, at Lake Baikal, and inhabits Russia, from whence to the southward it is spread over the European continent generally.”

Haliaëtus leucocephalus (Linn.)BALD EAGLE; AMERICAN EAGLE

Aquila leucocephala, Briss. Orn. I, 422, 1760.—Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. iii, 1807.—Pallas, Zoog. Ross. As. I, 347, 1811.—Swainson, Classif. B. II, 207, 1837; Anim. Menag. 106, 1838.—S. Longch. Faun. Belg. 53, 1842. Falco leucocephalus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 124, 1766.—Gmel. Syst. Nat. 255, 1789.—Lath. Ind. Orn. 11, 1790; Syn. I, 29, 1781; Supp. p. 9, 1802; Gen. Hist. I, 45, 1821.—Penn. Arct. Zoöl. pp. 194 and 196, 1785.—Wils. Am. Orn. pl. xxxvi, 1808.—Temm. Man. Orn. pt. i, 52; pt. ii, 27, 1820; Tab. Méth. 3, 1836.—Shaw, Zoöl. VII, 78, 1809.—Bonap. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 26.—Green, Silliman’s Am. Journ. IV, 89; Isis, 1832, p. 1136.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 160, 1831; Birds Am. pl. xxxi, 1831.—Brewer, (Wils.) Am. Orn. Synop. 683, 1852. Haliaëtus leucocephalus, Savig.—Cuv. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 326.—Less. Tr. Orn. p. 40, 1831.—Steph. Zoöl. XIII, pt. 2, p. 13, 1826.—James. (Wils.) Am. Orn. I, 21, 33, 1808.—Jard. (Wils.) Orn. II, 89, 307.—Rich. F. B. A. II, 15, 1831.—Bennett, Gard. Zoöl. Soc. II, 37, 1831.—Bonap. Eur. & N. Am. B. 3, 1838; Cat. Ucc. Eur. 19, 1842; Consp. Av. 15, 1850; Rev. et Mag. Zoöl. 1854, p. 531.—Max. Cab. Journ. VI, 1858, 3.—Blakiston, Ibis, III, 1861, 320.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 328 (Texas, breeding).—Gould, B. Eur. pl. xi, 1837.—Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 3, 1844; List Birds Brit. Mus. 2, 1844.—Aud. Synopsis Birds Am. 10, 1839.—Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. & Canad. 72, 1833.—Peale, U. S. Expl. Exp. 71, 1848.—Peab. Birds Mass. 73, 1841.—Giraud, Birds Long Island, 9, 1844.—Woodh. Sit. Expl. Zuñ. & Colorad. 59, 1853.—Cassin, B. Calif. & Tex. I, 111, 1854.—De Kay, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 5, pl. i, f. 1, 1844.—Heerm. P. R. R. Rept. VII, 30, 1857.—Newb. P. R. R. Rept. VI, 75, 1857.—Wern. Atl. Ois. Eur. 1826.—Brehm, Vögel Deutschl. 17, 1831.—Cass. Birds N. Am. 1858, 43.—Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 151, 1860.—Coues, Prod. B. Ariz. 13, 1866. Haliaëtus leucocephalus, Gray, Hand List, I, 16 (1869). Falco candidus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. 258, 1789.—Lath. Ind. Orn. 14, 1790; Syn. I, 36, 1781; Gen. Hist. I, 240, 1821.—Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 51, 1800.—Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. I, 30, 1807. Falco pygargus, Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 62, 1800. Falco ossifragus, Wils. Am. Orn. pl. lv, f. 2 (Juv.), 1808. Falco leucogaster, Lath. Gen. Hist. I, 242, 1821. Vultur albicilla, Faber, Faun. Grœnl. 53, 1780. Falco washingtoni, Aud. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 1, I, 1828, 115.—Ib. Orn. Biog. I, 58; Birds Am. pl. xi.—Brewer, (Wils.) Am. Orn. 683.—James. (Wils.) Am. Orn. IV, 261. Haliaëtus washingtoni, Jard. (Wils.) Am. Orn. II, 92.—Bonap. List, 1838, 3.—Gray, Gen. fol. sp. 4.—Aud. Synop. Birds Am. 10.—Cass. B. Cal. & Tex. 110.—Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 42.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 51, No. 82. Falco washingtonianus, Nutt. Man. pl. lxvii. Haliaëtus leucocephalus, Brewer, Oölogy, 1851, 48, pl. iv, f. 37.

Sp. Char. Adult. Entire head and neck, upper and lower tail-coverts, and tail, immaculate pure white. Rest of the plumage brownish-black, the feathers fading toward the edges, these paler borders being most conspicuous on the upper surface. Primaries uniform deep black. Bill, cere, superciliary shield, and feet, deep chrome-yellow; iris Naples-yellow. Male (12,017, Philadelphia; C. Drexler). Wing, 22.00; tail, 10.50; culmen, 1.90; top of cere, .80; depth of bill, 1.30; tarsus, 3.00; middle toe, 2.60; outer, 2.00; inner, 1.50; posterior, 1.30. Wing-formula, 3=4–5, 2–6; 1=7. Female (11,986, Philadelphia; C. Drexler). Wing, 25.00; tail, 12.75; culmen, 2.20; top of cere, .80; tarsus, 3.10; middle toe, 2.85. Wing-formula, 3=4, 5–2–6–7–1, 8. Young. Second year (?) (No. 58,977, Mount Carmel, Wabash County, Illinois, Dec.; D. Ridgway). Head and neck brownish-black, white beneath the surface, the penicillate ones of the nape tipped with pale brown. Prevailing color of other portions blackish-brown, inclining to umber on the dorsal region, wing-coverts, and lower parts; all the feathers white at their roots, this much exposed on the lower parts, where the brown forms tear-shaped terminal spots; axillars and lining of the wing white, each feather of the latter region with a medial lanceolate stripe of blackish-brown. Primaries and tail brownish-black; inner webs of secondaries and tail-feathers spattered longitudinally with creamy-white. Bill and cere black; iris brown; feet yellow. Wing, 25.50; tail, 15.00; culmen, 2.10; tarsus, 3.10; middle toe, 2.60.

Young, first year (No. 41,595, Eastern United States?). Whole plumage nearly uniformly black, this very continuous above; beneath, the basal white is much exposed, producing a somewhat spotted appearance. Primaries and tail deep black, the inner webs of the latter sprinkled with cream-color.

Young in down (Washington, D. C.). Downy covering uniform deep sooty-gray; the sprouting feathers on wings, etc., all brownish-black.

Specimens from the Pacific Coast have the plumage rather deeper black; but scarcely any other differences are appreciable. Measurements of specimens are as follows:—

“Male” (?) (45,838, Sitka; Bischoff). Wing, 24.50; tail, 12.50; culmen, 2.00.

Female (45,835, Sitka; Bischoff). Wing, 25.00; tail, 12.50; culmen, 2.20.

Of these, the male is continuous deep black, the head, neck, tail, and tail-coverts pure white in sharp contrast; the female is less continuously black,—more so, however, than in eastern specimens; the white portions are as pure as in the male.

An immature bird (9,130, Shoalwater Bay, W. T., Feb.; Dr. Cooper) is almost like the Illinois specimen described, but is somewhat larger, measuring, wing, 26.00; tail, 15.00; culmen, 2.20. It differs somewhat in plumage also, the lower parts being nearly uniformly light isabella-color, not variegated by the black spots; the whole wing (except the quills) is pale isabella-brown, the wing-coverts with terminal triangular spots of black; the back is also light-colored, like the wings.

52509, (♀ ?). nat. size.

9128, ♀ ? ¼

Haliaëtus leucocephalus.

Hab. Entire continent of North America, north of Mexico.

Localities quoted: Upper Texas; breeds (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 65). Western Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S., 1866, 49).

LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED

National Museum, 17; Philadelphia Academy, 14; Boston Society, 3; Museum Comparative Zoölogy, 3; Coll. R. Ridgway, 2; Coll. J. C. Sharp, Jr., 1; W. S. Brewer, 1. Total, 41.

The “Bird of Washington” of Audubon was, without the least doubt, a very large immature female, in about the second year: the discrepancies between Audubon’s figure and description, and the real characters of the young Bald Eagle, are very probably the result of carelessness and faulty memory; the stretch of wing of “10 feet 2 inches” is, no doubt, an exaggeration; and the peculiar scutellation of the tarsus, as exhibited in his plate, was as certainly caused by this portion of the figure being worked up from memory. The probability is also that the description was made up, or at least very much added to, from this plate, as there is no record of Mr. Audubon’s specimens having been preserved. It is by no means strange that persons should consider these large grayish Eagles a different species from the smaller white-headed ones, since their proportions are as different as their colors; and throughout the country, unscientific people, and among them experienced hunters, distinguish the three stages described above as the “bald,” “big gray,” and “black” Eagles. Nothing is more certain, however, than that all are only different stages of one and the same bird.

In the preceding table of measurements the old and immature specimens are given separately, in order to prove the remarkable fact that the latter have longer wings and tails than the former. This feature is not confined to the present bird, however, but applies as a general rule to all Falconidæ.

Habits. The White-headed Eagle is widely diffused throughout the North American continent, from about latitude 58° north to the Gulf of Mexico and Central America.

Sir John Richardson, in Fauna Boreali-Americana (Vol. II, p. 15), states that he did not meet with this species north of 62°, although he found it common between that point and Lake Superior. He also states that they leave the fur-countries in October, when the rivers are frozen. Subsequently, in his expedition overland to the Arctic Seas, in 1848, he found occasion to change his first impressions quite materially. He gives it as abundant at Half-Moon Lake, in latitude 56° north. He also speaks of finding both the Osprey and White-headed Eagle building their nests on the banks of Bear Lake River, in about 60° north. We find in his notes, that White-headed Eagles made their appearance at Fort Confidence, latitude 66° 54′, as early as May 17, before the ice had given way in the rivers; and in his tables of phenomena observed at the Cumberland House, in latitude 54°, we also observe that a White-headed Eagle was seen as early as the 24th of March, “being almost always the first of the summer birds which arrives.”

Haliaëtus leucocephalus.

Mr. MacFarlane found these Eagles breeding on Lockhart River, latitude 67° 30′, but does not regard it as abundant in that locality, and from the information he has received from the Indians, he presumes latitude 68° to be its extreme northern range. In the following year, 1862, this supposition was in part confirmed by his finding a pair breeding on the same river, near its junction with the Anderson, in latitude 68° north. Mr. B. E. Ross states that it ranges to the Arctic Circle, and is numerous around Great Slave and Bear Lakes. It proved to very common at Sitka, where Bischoff obtained a number of specimens.

Dr. Cooper, during his journey northward to the 49th degree, found this one of the most abundant birds of the Falcon tribe in Washington Territory, particularly along the Columbia River. It is a constant resident in the Territory, and is said to lay its eggs as early as February. He saw large numbers along the Columbia, sitting on some log or cliff over the water. He never met with it about high mountain tops nor on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains.

Dr. Newberry met with this Eagle in the interior of Northern California, along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. He found it very common at the Cascades of the Columbia, at the Falls of the Willamette, and still more abundant about the chain of lakes in the Klamath basin, and also in the Cascade Range, among the mountain lakes, and wherever fish was attainable. They exhibited little shyness, and were easily brought within rifle range.

In Florida, Mr. Allen found this bird very common, breeding as early as January. It was very abundant on the upper St. John’s, and especially so at Lake Monroe. It is also equally common in Texas, according to Dresser, especially near the headwaters of some of the rivers. He was told by his guide, Westfall, that in passing a distance of forty miles he had noticed eight nests. It also breeds on the Altacosa. Dr. Woodhouse found these birds, but nowhere very abundant, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, along his entire route, and Dr. Coues observed them near Fort Whipple.

The statements of Temminck that this Eagle has been taken accidentally in Central Europe, Switzerland, and Germany, and also that it breeds in Northwestern Europe, are not now credited; and more recent scrutiny of these supposed facts cast discredit upon them, and show that there is no well-authenticated instance of its having been detected in Europe.

The White-headed Eagle appears to be equally well adapted by nature for the endurance of heat or cold, and is apparently indifferent to either. Its residence is influenced only by its abundance of food, especially that of fish; and it seems to matter very little whether that plenty is procurable within the Arctic Circle or on the coast and rivers of Florida and Texas. In places like the Falls of Niagara, where the stream is ever liable to contribute the remains of animals destroyed by the descent of the torrent, this Eagle is especially abundant. Unscrupulous, greedy, voracious, not select in its choice of food, and capable of providing for itself when necessity compels, we find this not altogether unsuitable emblem of our country now enacting the tyrant and robber and plundering the Fishhawk of the fruits of its industry, now sharing with the Raven and the Vulture the dead salmon of the Columbia, and in other places diving for and catching its own fish. The impetuosity and skill with which it pursues, overtakes, and robs the Fishhawk, bearing off a fish it has just taken, must be witnessed to be appreciated; and the swiftness with which the Eagle can dart down upon and seize the booty, which the Hawk has been compelled to let fall, before it reaches the water, is not the least wonderful feature of this striking performance. On the banks of the Columbia, where there are no Fishhawks to depend upon, this bird finds an easy subsistence on the vast numbers of dead and dying salmon which abound; and in Florida Mr. Allen has observed it dive and catch its own fish. This is also confirmed by the statements of other naturalists. Wilson also accuses this Eagle of destroying great numbers of young pigs in the Southern States, young lambs, and even sickly sheep; and in one instance it attempted to carry off a child, which was only saved by its dress giving way.

The White-headed Eagle breeds along the Atlantic coast from the St. Lawrence to Florida, and thence westward to Mexico along the coast and among the tributaries of the Gulf. In the interior it breeds as far north as the Arctic Circle.

Richardson states that it abounds in the watery districts of Rupert’s Land, and a nest may be looked for within every twenty or thirty miles. Each pair appropriates a certain range of country, on which they are said to suffer no intruders of their own species to encroach; but the nest of the Osprey is often placed at no great distance from that of the Eagle. Some of the voyagers had the curiosity to visit an Eagle’s nest, which was built on the cleft summit of a balsam poplar, of sticks, many of them as thick as a man’s wrist. It contained two young birds, well fledged, with a good store of fish in a very odoriferous condition. While the men were climbing the tree, the female parent hovered close around, and threatened an attack on the invaders; but the male kept aloof, making circles high in the air.

In California, where the rocky coast is destitute of convenient trees, the White-headed Eagle resorts to rocky cliffs as the safest and most convenient places for nesting. We have the authority of Richardson for the same deviation from its usual resort to trees in parts of the fur-countries where the latter are wanting. The climate apparently exerts a certain influence, though not so much as might be supposed. In the Southern States it nests seven weeks earlier than in Maine, in both of which regions it is resident throughout the year. Farther north, where the severity of the cold, by closing the ponds and rivers with solid ice, places their food beyond their reach, and where they are only visitants in the warmer season, they, of course, nest still later, for the reason that they do not reach these regions until after the breeding season of more southern birds of the species.

In the extreme Southern States, as in California, the White-headed Eagle breeds as early as February. In Maine, the general impression has been that the eggs are not deposited before May, and at a still later period in the more northern portions of the United States. More recent observations show this to be incorrect, and that these birds breed at a much earlier season of the year. Mr. Audubon speaks of having once shot a female on her eggs, near the Mississippi, as early as the 17th of January. Dr. Gambel found White-headed Eagles nesting on the cliffs along the shores of the Pacific in February and March.

Having occasion to visit the State of Maine in April, 1856, near the Damariscotta River, the banks of which stream are frequented by these birds on account of the abundance of fish, I was informed that a pair had constructed a nest in a neighboring wood, which they had occupied for several successive years. The previous season (1855), late in May, my informant had climbed a tree in the immediate neighborhood, commanding a full view of the nest. It then contained young nearly grown. From this statement I was led to conclude that there was no time to be lost if we would secure the eggs before hatching. We accordingly visited the nest on the 27th of April, and found it situated on a tall pine, at least sixty feet from the ground. The tree stood in a swampy wood, within a few rods of the stage road, and not more than half a mile from the village of Damariscotta. It contained no limbs or branches to facilitate ascent for at least the distance of thirty feet, and the trunk at the base was from six to nine feet in circumference, rendering it impossible to mount the tree by the aid only of the hands and feet. My assistant was, however, drawn up, by means of a rope fastened round his body, to a height where the branches of the tree rendered the remainder of the ascent comparatively easy. While he was ascending, we observed several Eagles flying over our heads, but at a great height. One only approached us; but, as soon as we were noticed, the bird made a precipitate retreat. It was apparently conveying food to the nest, and was not at first aware of our presence; after which it hovered at a distance, uttering hoarse, disagreeable cries of displeasure, not unlike the imperfect barking of a dog. No attempt was made to molest or interrupt the man as he ascended to, or after he had reached, the nest. We found, when he had climbed to the nest, that the female had been sitting upon it all the while, and only left when the unwelcome caller was near enough to have reached her with his hands. She too flew over the man’s head in somewhat close proximity, uttering frequent cries of distress, but made no effort whatever to attack him.

The nest was found to contain no egg, and but a single bird, apparently about a fortnight old. It was some six or seven inches in length, its weight between one and two pounds, and its head and claws disproportionately large. It was covered uniformly with a thick, close, and soft downy plumage, which was of a clean deep straw-color. There was not the least admixture of gray or brown. The young bird was completely helpless, and uttered almost constant cries for food. It ate readily whenever fish or meat was offered it, but was unable to support itself upon its legs. It was taken to my host’s house, where it was well cared for, and for a while, with careful attention, it did well and grew apace, manifesting a most inordinate and insatiable appetite.

The nest was described to me by my assistant as a platform between five and six feet in diameter, and at least four in thickness. It was constructed of regular layers of large sticks, each several feet in length, and from an inch to an inch and a half in thickness. Its surface was perfectly flat, and was “finished off,” to use his expression, with tufts of grass, dry leaves, mosses, lichens, small twigs, etc., etc. He found in it, by the side of the young Eagle, four or five large eels, each of which was about two feet in length, showing that the parent birds provide liberally for their own wants and those of their young.