Plate CLXXXI. Female.
General colour of the plumage dark brown glossed with purple; occiput,
hind part and sides of the neck, light brownish-yellow; wing-coverts
light brown; primary quills brownish-black, secondary with the coverts
brown, those next the body more or less mottled with brownish-white,
excepting at the ends; tail dark brown, lighter towards the base, with
a few irregular whitish markings; feathers of the legs and tarsi, and
lower tail-coverts, light yellowish-brown. Young with the basal
three-fourths of the tail white.
_Male_, 32, 70. _Female_, 38, 84.
From Pennsylvania northward. Never seen far in the interior. Resident.
Falco fulvus, Bonap. Syn. p. 25.
Aquila Chrysaetos, Golden Eagle, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 12.
Ring-tailed Eagle, Falco fulvus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. v. vii.
p. 13.
Royal or Golden Eagle, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 62.
Golden Eagle, Falco Chrysaetos, Aud. Ornith. Biog. v. ii. p.
464.
GENUS IV. HALIAETUS, Savigny. SEA-EAGLE.
Bill rather short, very deep, compressed; upper mandible with the
dorsal outline nearly straight at the base, beyond the cere decurved,
the sides sloping, the edges nearly straight, with a slight obtuse
process, and a shallow sinus close to the strong trigonal tip; lower
mandible, with the dorsal outline slightly convex, the tip obliquely
truncate. Head large, oblong, flattened above. Nostrils oblong,
oblique, near the ridge. Neck of moderate length. Body very large.
Feet rather short, very robust; tarsi roundish, covered anteriorly
with the transverse scutella, posteriorly with large, laterally with
small scales; toes robust, free, scutellate above; claws large,
curved, rounded, flat beneath, acuminate. Plumage compact, imbricated;
feathers of the head and neck narrow and pointed; space between the
bill and eye barish, being sparsely covered with bristle-like
feathers, disposed in a radiating manner. Wings long, the second and
third quills longest, the outer five cut out abruptly on the inner
web. Tail rather long, rounded. Duodenum convoluted.