Genus Haliaëtus. Savigny, Description of Egypt, Zoology, p. 85,
(1809.)
Size, large. Bill, strong, straight at the base, hooked and very sharp
at the point, sides of the bill compressed, margin of upper mandible,
slightly festooned. Wings rather long and pointed, formed for rapid and
vigorous flight; tail moderate. Tarsi short, very strong, and with the
toes, covered with scales; claws very strong, curved and sharp. About
ten or twelve species known, which are scattered throughout the surface
of the globe.
Haliaëtus pelagicus. (Pallas.)
Aquila pelagica. Pallas, Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, I. p. 343, (St.
Petersburg, 1811, Quarto.)
“Aquila marina. Steller, MSS.” Pallas _ut supra_.
Falco Imperator. Kittlitz, Kupfertafeln zur naturg. der Vogel pt. I.
p. 3, pl. 2, (Frankfurt, 1832.)
Falco leucopterus. Temminck. Pl. col. I. pl. 489.
Haliaëtus pelagicus. (Pallas.) Temm. & Schl. Fauna Japonica, Aves p.
10, pl. 4.
Haliaëtus imperator. (Kittlitz.) Bruch in Isis XXV. p. 1102, (1832.)
Form. Very large and powerful, tail rather short, wedge shaped, the
middle feathers being nearly four inches longer than the outer, which
are shortest, all of the fourteen feathers somewhat pointed, but the
central four lanceolate.
Bill strong, much compressed, very wide laterally or in altitude; upper
mandible with a slight festoon; gape rather wide, extending so far back
as to be immediately under the eye; cere large, in which at the distance
of nearly an inch from the frontal feathers, the nostrils are obliquely
inserted, large loral space bare, or with a few scattered bristles.
Wings rather short, third and fourth quills longest, but with the fifth
little shorter; secondaries abruptly acuminated, and some of them with
their shafts produced into filaments or thread-like appendages, exserted
from the tips of the feathers; secondaries and greater coverts very
broad and strong.
Legs and feet rather short, but strong; tarsus feathered below the joint
for half its length, bare lower portion, with about five large frontal
scales immediately succeeding the feathers; then to the toes in common
with its entire posterior part, covered with numerous scales, which are
rounded or hexagonal: the latter shape most readily observed behind;
toes, with broad frontal scales; claws large.
Feathers of the head and neck, narrow and pointed, or acuminated; those
on the breast and back, somewhat lanceolate, but broad, and sometimes
abruptly pointed. Tail coverts, both above and below, ample—extending to
half the length of the tail.
Dimensions of a skin from Behrings Straits. Total length from tip of
bill to end of tail, about 3 feet 8 inches; wing, 2 feet 2 inches; tail,
1 foot 4 inches; bill, from tip of upper mandible to angle of the mouth,
3¾ inches; width of bill, laterally, at point of insertion of the
nostrils, full 1¾ inches.
Colours. Female, nearly adult? Tail, white, the two external feathers
having their outer webs, brownish black, mottled with white, and other
feathers slightly spotted with the same brownish black. Entire other
parts, above and below, very dark brownish black; lighter on the head
and neck, and on which parts every feather is lighter in the middle.
Primary quills, shining black; secondaries and tertiaries, white at
their bases, and brownish black at their ends; greater coverts narrowly
tipped with brownish white; lesser coverts whitish on both margins,
especially at their bases, terminated with brownish. Rump with the
plumage white at the base.
Bill, yellow, (in skin,) feet, yellow.
Adult, as described by authors cited above. Large frontal space,
commencing at the base of bill, white, which is also the colour of the
greater wing coverts, the abdomen, and the tail. All other parts of the
plumage blackish brown; bill, cere, legs and feet, yellow.
Hab. Russian possessions in Asia and America. Spec. in Mus. Acad.
Philada.
Obs. The largest of all known Eagles, and nearly related to _H.
Washingtonii_ (Aud.). It differs from the latter, as described by
Audubon, in being larger generally, but has the wing shorter and the
tail wedge shaped, and containing fourteen feathers. We suppose _H.
Washingtonii_ to be the young of a closely allied species, and that both
are strictly congeneric with _H. leucocephalus_, _H. albicilla_, _H.
vocifer_, and others known as Fishing Eagles.
[Illustration: Plate 7
The Ground Wren
Chamaea fasciata (_Gambel_)]
CHAMÆA FASCIATA.—(Gambel.)
The Ground Wren.
PLATE VII.—Adult Male.
This little bird was discovered in California, by William Gambel, M. D.,
an enthusiastic and highly talented young naturalist, who, during an
overland journey across the North American Continent, made many
discoveries, and added much valuable information to several departments
of Natural History, and we regret to say, whose recent death, during a
second expedition of the same character, occurring, as it did, so early,
and thus terminating so prematurely a life of such promise, is to be
deplored as a loss to science and to his country.
Dr. Gambel’s account of this bird in the Proceedings of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, II. p. 265, and in the Journal of the
same society, quarto, I. p. 34, which is the first and, as yet, the most
satisfactory, is as follows: “For several months before discovering the
bird, I was attracted in the fields of dead mustard stalks, the weedy
margins of streams, low thickets and bushy places, by a continued loud,
crepitant, grating scold, which I took for that of a species of Wren,
but at last found it to proceed from this Wren-tit, if it may be so
called. It was difficult to be seen, and kept in such places as I have
described, close to the ground; eluding pursuit by diving into the
thickest bunches of weeds and tall grass, or tangled bushes, and
uttering its grating Wren-like notes whenever approached. But if
quietly, watched, it may be seen, when searching for insects, mounting
the twigs and dried stalks of grass sideways, jerking its long tail, and
holding it erect like a Wren, which, with its short wings in such a
position, it much resembles.
“Sometimes it utters a slow, monotonous, singing chicadee note, like
_pee, pee, pee, pee, peep_; at other times its notes are varied, and a
slow whistling continued _pwit, pwit, pwit, pwit_, is heard. Again, in
pleasant weather, towards spring, I have heard individuals answering
each other, singing in a less solemn strain not unlike sparrows, a
lively _pit, pit, pit, tr, r, r, r, r, r_, but, if disturbed, they at
once resumed their usual scold.”
Mr. Bell, whose collection contained numerous specimens of this bird,
found it abundant in the neighbourhood of San Francisco, and has kindly
allowed us to use his memoranda: “I observed this bird in bushes and
briers every where along the roads, and in brush heaps on lands which
had been recently cleared, though it appeared rather to prefer damp
places. It was very pert, and not easily frightened, and as it moved
about with its tail erect, uttered several rather peevish notes, unlike
those of any other bird with which I am acquainted.
“The white iris of this bird, when in its native haunts, is quite
readily observed, and with its manners and the localities which it
frequents, reminded me, in some measure, of the white-eyed Vireo, (_V.
noveboracensis_.) Its skin is unusually strong for such a small bird,
and it has a remarkable development of the muscles of the thighs, and,
in fact, unusual strength and firmness of the muscular system
generally.”