little effort, and should he spy a carcase, hovers over it in short curves, until satisfied as to his security
should he alight upon it.
«The cry is so shrill, that in calm weather one may hear it at the distance of a mile; and it often emits
a kind of clear yelp, which resembles the syllable Alick, kick, klick, or queek, queek, queck, and which seems
i . . : . . pies es i a . 4 “ ’ z eee 99 99
to be an expression of anger or impatience.” (Macgillivray, ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iii. pp. 228, 229.)
. ; 7 renerally makes its nest 1 igh cliffs of the coast, but also
«The Sea-Eagle,” says Mr. Wolley, ‘‘ generally makes its nest in the bigh cliffs of the coast, but als
occasionally breeds inland. In the former ?
Two other nests were made principally of sea-weed, and were in
such ‘tremendous cliffs” that my informant’s hair ‘ gets strong’ when he thinks of them. In the
Shetlands an inaccessible eyrie was pointed out to me on the top of a stack, or steep detached rock ; and I have

situation an eyrie had nothing but a very little heather, grass,

and moss used in its construction.

seen another such stack on the north-east coast of Scotland, which was also said to have an eyrie at its
In inland situations, the Sea-Eagle generally establishes itself upon a rock or islet in the middle
Here it builds, upon the ground or in a tree, a nest whose construction does not differ from that

summit.
of a loch. i
of the Golden Eagle, there being always in it a certain amount of Luzula syleatica. The tree is not always
a large one; I have seen two nests of different years in trees on separate islands in oe OE. each only
about four feet from the ground. I can call to mind nine instances of such island eyries. The old birds
do not always calculate the depth of the water, as there is one place at least to which a man can wade.
Where swimming is necessary to get at the eggs, it is often an affair of danger, as the birds will do their
best to drown the enemy with their wings. In two spots I have seen large Scotch firs, which have been
formerly tenanted by Sea-Eagles—one by the side of a loch, the other several miles away from any piece of
water, a a sort of open wood of similar trees. The nest had been in a fork where three branches met, 20
feet high, and, as in other cases, the main trunk bore its weight. In one instance the crossed and nearly
horizontal trunks of two small trees formed the support. The eggs, two or three in number, are always
probably, when first laid, of a spotless white, and afterwards receive as stains the slight colour with which
they ae marked. They are laid a week or a fortnight later than hose of the Golden Eagle, and are
generally smaller.” (Hewitson’s ‘ Eggs of British Birds,’ 3rd edit. vol. Lp. 1:2)

Macgillivray states that toward the middle of spring these Eagles begin to construct their nest, which is of
great ao being about 5 feet in diameter, flat, and composed of sticks, twigs, heath, dried sea-weeds, tufts of
grass, wool, and other materials, and that “the young make their appearance at the beginning of June, and
are then covered with a down of a greyish-white colour. They are plentifully supplied with food, and grow
rapidly, but do not leave the nest until the middle of 4 agust, when they are enticed abroad by their parents,
who continue to supply them with food for many days. When the breeding-season is over, the young
disperse ; and although these birds are not of social habits, several individuals may often be seen, at no great
distance, traversing the hills or shores where there is plunder to be obtained. Their food consists of
carrion of every description, stranded fish, young sea-birds, and small quadrupeds, for which they search
the moors and pastures. Their sight must be keen; but in looking for prey they do not rise to a vast
elevation, as has been alleged, but fly at the height of a few hundred yards, sw eeping along the bill-sides with
a steady motion, or winding in curves with outspread wings. I have often seen them, far out at. sea,
hovering and sailing in this manner; and several persons have told me that they sometimes clutch up fishes
that happen to come to the surface. They may also occasionally be observed w atching on the banks of a river
and attacking the salmon and trout when they come into shallow water. That they fare well is evinced by
the abundance of provision which they bring to their young; but ee courage and address do not seem to
be equal to their powers; for, unless pressed by famine, they scarcely venture to molest an animal larger
than a hare. Grouse are sometimes destroyed by it, and instances have been known of its carrying off a
domestic fowl that had straggled to a distance from the house; but the Sea-Eagle has more of the Vulture
than of the Falcon in its character, and at all times would be w ell content with mere carrion.’

The adults have the lanceolate feathers clothing the bead and neck pale brown, with a narrow line of
dark brown down their shafts ; all the upper surface dark brown, each feather broadly edged with whitish
brown ; wings dark brown, with light shafts, and the tertiaries narrowly edged at the tip with light brown ;
breast mottled light brown and whitish, and with a str ipe of dark brown down the shafts ; under surface lighter
than the upper, and the feathers less conspicuously margined; tail white, stained with brown at the base,
the longest coverts also white, mottled with brown at the base, with an irregular crescent of brown at the
tip; cere wine-yellow ; bill and legs straw-yellow ; claws black.

The young birds have the feathers of the fe and neck dark brown, with paler tips; upper surface
reddish brown, with dark shafts; under surface brown, of different tints, with a few white feathers
interspersed ; primaries brownish black; tail variegated with hair and clove-brown, deepening towards
the tip.

The foremost figure represents a female, about one-third of the natural size.