National Museum, 3; Philadelphia Academy, 3; New York Museum, 2; Boston
Society, 2; Cambridge Museum, 1. Total, 11.
_Measurements._
+------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
| Sex. | Wing. | Tail. | Culmen. | Tarsus. | Middle |Specimens.|
| | | | | | Toe. | |
+------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|♂ Ad. |23.00–24.00| 11.50–0.00|2.10–2.20|3.30–3.70|2.50–2.85| 2 |
+------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|♂ Juv.|24.75–26.00| 12.50–0.00|2.05–2.20|3.80–0.00|2.70–0.00| 2 |
+------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
|♀ Juv.|27.80–28.00|14.00–16.00|2.20–2.45|3.50–3.65|2.95–3.50| 2 |
+------+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+----------+
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.
[Illustration: _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.).