The specimen described under this name was the same that is alluded to
by Mr. Audubon in his article on the White-headed Eagle, in Orn. Biog.,
II. p. 163, as being kept in captivity in the suburbs of Philadelphia,
and this description and its author he also alludes to. We mention this
bird for the purpose of facilitating the student who may not have access
to the works of Rafinesque, and for the purpose of pointing out a
curious error into which Mr. Audubon and Dr. Harlan, as quoted by him,
seem to have fallen, in regarding it as the White-headed or Bald Eagle
(_Haliaetus leucocephalus_). It is expressly stated by Rafinesque to
have been brought from “near Buenos Ayres,” and was evidently, from his
description, the _Circaetus coronatus_ of South America. This name is
therefore by no means to be cited as a synonyme for _Haliaetus
leucocephalus_.