Pithecophaga jefferyi, a fine forest Eagle from the Philippines, with extremely deep and compressed bill, seems to belong here.[[138]]
The true Eagles–fierce but seldom courageous–inhabit wild mountains, plains, or forests; resembling Buzzards in their slow heavy flight, and rarely uttering their shrill cry or yelp. The prey is generally secured by a pounce; and carrion, if fairly fresh, is eaten. The nest of sticks or twigs, lined with grass, green foliage, fur or wool, especially the two first, contains from one to three large white eggs, with or without red or brownish markings.
The various species of Spizaëtus, Limnaëtus, Lophotriorchis, Lophoaëtus, Neopus, and Nisaëtus, with comparatively short wings, long tails, and large claws, are sometimes denominated Hawk-Eagles. Not usually shy, they are essentially denizens of wooded country, where some prefer the hilly districts, others the neighbourhood of streams; the food is extremely varied, including in different cases, monkeys, bucks, lambs, goats, hares, rabbits, birds as large as bustards and geese, lizards, frogs, or even fish; while the flight is more graceful and Falcon-like than in the genus Aquila, the note clearer and sharper. The moderately large nest is composed of sticks, and usually lined with green leaves or branchlets; the one or two eggs are white, ordinarily with light reddish-brown markings. Spizaëtus coronatus of South and West Africa is blackish above, with a little white on the tail-coverts and remiges, and brownish tips to the triply-barred rectrices, the buff lower parts being broadly banded with black. S. tyrannus, extending from Guatemala to Brazil, is black beneath; S. ornatus, of Central and South America as far as Paraguay, has the nape and sides of the neck and chest tawny. These birds have an occipital crest, as have some members of the hardly separable Limnaëtus, of which L. caligatus, of India and the Malay countries, deep brown in colour, with ashy inner webs to the remiges, will serve as an example. L. nipalensis and L. cirrhatus inhabit India with Ceylon, and the former Formosa and Japan; L. philippensis the Philippines; L. alboniger Malacca and Borneo; L. lanceolatus Celebes and the Sula Islands; L. gurneyi New Guinea and the Moluccas; L. (Lophotriorchis) kieneri India, Malacca, Borneo, and Batchian; L. isidori north-western South America. Lophoaëtus occipitalis, of Africa south of the Sahara, is brown, except for a few white marks above, and has shortly-feathered white metatarsi. Here the crest is extremely long, but in the nearly black Neopus malayensis, ranging from India to the Moluccas, it is much shorter. Spiziastur melanoleucus, extending from Guatemala to Brazil, is brownish-black, with white head, neck, and lower surface, the tail has four darker bands, and black marks shew towards the crest. In this species the inner claw and hallux are greatly developed. Nisaëtus pennatus, the "Booted Eagle" of South Europe, Africa, and thence to India and Ceylon, so called from the feathered legs, is brown above, with a white shoulder-patch, white tip to the barred tail, and various buffish markings; the head, neck, and under parts are fawn-coloured, with brown streaks except on the abdomen. N. fasciatus, Bonelli's Eagle, has a similar range, but reaches China, and not South Africa; it lacks the shoulder-patch, but is streaked on the abdomen. N. morphnoïdes inhabits Australia and New Guinea, N. spilogaster and N. bellicosus Southern Africa, the last being slaty-black above, and having a plain brown chest.
The typical Eagle, the bird of Jove, the emblem of Rome and of St. John, was some species of Aquila. A. chrysaëtus, the Golden or Black Eagle, is exceptionally shot in England in winter–especially in the north; but it is the Sea Eagle that occurs most frequently. In North Britain the former has bred in increasing numbers since protection has been given in deer-forests, where it kills the grouse which startle the stalker's game; a few pairs remain in North and West Ireland; while in times past it ranged to the Peak of Derbyshire or even Snowdon. Abroad it occupies most of Europe, North Asia to India and China, North Africa, and North America to Mexico. Powerful and fierce by nature, and ready to attack animals of considerable size, it never molests man under ordinary circumstances; both parents, it is true, circle anxiously round when the young are in danger, but should the nest contain eggs, the hen, which sits closely, vanishes at once on leaving them. She does not reappear until all risk seems past, while the cock is seldom sighted at the eyry, though usually seen in the vicinity. The prey consists of antelopes, wolves, foxes, fawns, lambs, hares, rabbits, marmots, geese, ducks, grouse, and so forth, with carrion, if sufficiently fresh; the ground is often quartered at a low elevation, and wonderfully rapid in the chase is the flight of this apparently slow and ponderous bird, aided by its extraordinarily keen powers of vision. Solitary individuals may occasionally be approached by stalking, but in Britain they are generally wary, owing to constant disturbance; they may, however, often be seen circling aloft or winging their way to great distances, while they can hardly be distinguished from Buzzards in misty weather even by experienced keepers. Captures are made with the talons, but Eagles are comparatively seldom trained for Falconry; yet the present species has been so used in Europe, as well as by the Kirgiz Tartars, who call it "Bergut" or "Bearcoot." The cry is shrill and yelping. The nest is commonly placed in a tree, though in Scotland such sites are seldom utilized nowadays, a projecting rock on the side of some bare mountain-glen or a sea-girt crag being selected instead. Here a cavity, rather than a ledge, is chosen, and a huge mass of sticks or heather is collected, with a bedding of hair, fur, wool, moss, dry fern and an occasional feather, or more commonly of tufts of Luzula sylvatica, garnished with an odd pine-shoot. Two or three eyries are often used in turn, the pile increasing on each occasion. At times the spot can be reached without a rope by a skilful climber, and in some countries nests have been found upon the ground. The two or three eggs–four being quite exceptional–are generally marked with red-brown, crimson, purplish or grey, but, though fine blotches are usual, one if not more of the set is frequently white. They are laid very early in spring and–as in other Birds of Prey–not always on successive days. The Golden Eagle is distinguished from the Sea-Eagle (p. [163]) by the feathering reaching to the toes, which have only the last joint scutellated, and the remainder reticulated: the adult is normally blackish-brown, with tawny lanceolate nape-plumes and tail mottled with grey; the young have white bases to the rectrices. The colour, however, varies much.
Aquila clanga, the Spotted Eagle of British lists, and its smaller form, A. pomarina, range across Europe, except the most northern portions, and extend to North Africa, India, and North China, their respective distributions being somewhat uncertain. The colour is brown, with pale nape and light margins to the feathers of the wings and rump; the manners are those of Eagles generally, but the food includes frogs, reptiles, and grasshoppers, in addition to small mammals and birds. A. hastata of India is hardly separable, and the African A. wahlbergi is very similar, as is the larger A. nipalensis, the Steppe Eagle of the former country, Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, and, exceptionally, North Africa, a plain brown bird with a fulvous nuchal patch. It commonly builds its nest upon the ground. A. adalberti, the White-shouldered Eagle of Portugal, Spain, and North-West Africa–often wrongly called "Imperial,"–preys upon lizards, snakes, hares and rabbits, which it usually spies from a perch on some bare tree-top. It is black, with brownish neck, greyish base to the tail, and a broad white shoulder-patch, whereas A. mogilnik, the true Imperial Eagle, ranging from Central Europe and North-East Africa to India and China, differs in having the head and neck creamy yellow, and only the scapulars white. A. rapax (naevioïdes), the Tawny Eagle of most of Africa, rarely found in Europe, is remarkable for the parti-coloured feathers of purplish-brown and rufous on the upper parts; otherwise it is brown, slightly streaked with fulvous below. The smaller A. vindhiana and A. fulvescens of India are very like it, while A. verreauxi of Abyssinia and South Africa is jet black with white rump and lower back. Uroaëtus audax of Australia and Tasmania is black, and has a wedge-shaped tail, the bright chestnut nape being streaked with black, and the head with white.
Of the Sea Eagles, characterized by very large bills and nearly bare metatarsi, the biggest is the fish-eating Thalassaëtus pelagicus, brown in colour, with white cuneate tail, rump, thighs, and patch on the wing-coverts. It inhabits the coasts, lakes, and rivers of North East Asia, the Liu-Kiu Islands and Japan, rarely wandering to America. T. branickii of Corea is slaty-black, with only the tail and its coverts white. Haliaëtus albicilla, the Erne or Sea-Eagle, of which a few pairs remain in Shetland and the west of Scotland and Ireland, used to breed at least as far south in England as the Isle of Man and the Lake District, while in winter immature or even adult specimens still frequently occur in various parts. Generally distributed over the Old World from Greenland to Kamtschatka, it breeds also in the Danube valley, Turkey, Greece, and Egypt, migrating to the Canary Islands, North Africa, Japan, China, and occasionally the Commander Islands. It is brown with white tail, the full plumage not being attained for nearly six years; but very old examples become whitish on the head and neck. In most of its habits it resembles the Golden Eagle, though the note is shriller, and the food consists largely of fish, seized in the talons as it swoops down; it is said to be very destructive to lambs, and, as it eats carrion, it is readily poisoned. In Britain the eyries are now in precipitous sea-cliffs, but of old inland rocks and trees were utilized, as is the case abroad, while in Egypt nests have been found upon the ground in marshes; the two or three white eggs, laid early in the year, are rarely marked with rufous. The representative American species H. leucocephalus, the Bald Eagle, has the head, neck, rump, and tail white, and ranges from the North to California and Mexico. H. leucocoryphus, with the middle of the tail and the cheeks white, extends from South-East Europe to East Siberia, China, and Burma; H. leucogaster, a greyer bird with white head, neck, under parts, and end of the tail, occurs from India and China to Australia and the Friendly Islands; H. vocifer with white head, neck, breast, and tail, but chestnut belly, occupies the Ethiopian Region; H. vociferoïdes of Madagascar is intermediate between the last-named and H. leucocoryphus. The river-haunting Polioaëtus ichthyaëtus, of the Indian Region and Celebes, is brown, with grey head and neck, white abdomen and tail, the latter broadly tipped with brown; P. plumbeus, of similar range, lacks the white base of the tail. The huge nest is placed in a tree and is often lined with green leaves, the two or three eggs being white; the note is loud and plaintive, and the food consists chiefly of fish.
Sub-fam. 5. Buteoninae, or Buzzards and Kites.–In this group the Rough-legged Buzzards (Archibuteo) are separated from the genus Buteo on account of their feathered metatarsi. A. lagopus, well-known in Britain from the numbers which frequently appear in autumn, is alleged to have bred once in Yorkshire, while in Northern Europe it is common, extending thence to about the Lena in Asia, and migrating in winter to South Europe, Turkestan, and even Natal. At the same season a darker sub-species A. sancti johannis, which breeds north of the United States, occurs southwards to Mexico. The former bird is cream-coloured, with brown markings of various depth, becoming more streaky below; the tail shews a white base and three or four dark cross-bars, of which the sub-terminal is very broad. In Scandinavia, when there is a plague of lemmings, it is as valuable an ally as the owls; the habits being identical with those of Buteo. A. ferrugineus of western North America has the upper surface and thighs ferruginous with brown streaks, the head, neck, and tail whiter, and the under parts nearly pure white. A. hemiptilopus (strophiatus) of Nepal and Tibet is nearly uniform brown with a white pectoral band.
Buteo is a genus of some thirty species, which together inhabit nearly the whole globe, except the Australian region; the only form thence recorded seeming to be B. solitarius of the Sandwich Archipelago–the Pandion solitarius of Cassin and so-called Onychotes gruberi of Mr. Ridgway. All may be represented both in appearance and manners by B. vulgaris, the Common Buzzard, which breeds not uncommonly in a few wild districts of Britain, chiefly towards the west, and is found on migration in other parts. Abroad the range includes the Atlantic Islands, West and Central Europe, whence it strays at times to Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa; the resident bird of those countries, however, is B. desertorum. The colour above is brown, with slight white marks and twelve dusky bars on the tail, the lower surface being yellowish-white with brown streaks; but varieties are very frequent in the genus, and these may be either darker or exhibit creamy tints, a trimorphic tendency of which the Sandwich Islands form is a notable instance. The English name Puttock and the Welsh Cetn appear to be applied indiscriminately to the Common Buzzard and the Kite. The flight is powerful, though slow and heavy, nor is it uncommon to see individuals circling in the air or poising themselves aloft on motionless wings; when quartering the ground the movements are not unlike those of Harriers, but the style is more steady, and the operations less protracted. Much of the food consists of small mammals, and especially rodents; it includes, however, small birds, reptiles, frogs, beetles, and grasshoppers; and many gamekeepers now recognise the bird's utility by protecting its breeding-quarters. Its congener B. jakal is even more useful, and destroys large or venomous snakes. Furthermore, the custom of darting upon the prey from some post of vantage remains to be noticed. The nest, commonly situated in trees, is equally often in rocks; those selected not being necessarily lofty, but frequently mere outcrops on the sides of hill-valleys, in which case access is easy even without a rope. The materials used are much the same as in the case of the Golden Eagle, but finer; a like fancy being shewn for green foliage, though ivy and so forth take the place of pine-shoots, as being more readily obtainable. The eggs are white or greenish, commonly blotched or spotted to a greater or less extent with dark brown, red, or lilac; the hen sits very closely, the cock meanwhile soaring above the intruder's head, and uttering his characteristic cat-like mew. B. desertorum, of all Africa, South-East Europe, and the countries to India inclusive, which has been recorded three times in England, is smaller and more decidedly rufous than B. vulgaris, though hardly distinguishable when immature; while the bigger B. ferox of similar range, though apparently limited in Africa to the North, is closely allied; as are B. plumipes, extending from India to Japan (of which B. leucocephalus is a large and probably distinct form) and B. swainsoni of North America, which migrates as far south as Patagonia, and has almost uniform upper parts and chest. B. borealis, the "Red-tailed Hawk," occupying with its various races the whole of North America, has a rufous tail with lighter tip and usually a single blackish band, the breast being sooty-black or white, with or without a reddish tinge; B. albicaudatus, reaching from Texas to Brazil, is slaty-grey, with rusty markings on the mantle, white under parts and tail, the latter showing grey bars and a wide subterminal black cross-belt; while B. abbreviatus, found from the southern United States to northern South America, is almost black, with three broad grey and white zones across the rectrices. B. augur and B. auguralis, both from North-East and West Africa, with B. jakal of South Africa, have the upper parts black, some grey on the wings, and the tail chestnut except near the end. The first has a black throat with white streaks and white lower surface, the second a red-brown chest and black spots on the belly, the third is black below with a whitish pectoral patch. Finally, omitting several American species from want of space, B. brachypterus–a miniature Common Buzzard–is peculiar to Madagascar, B. galapagensis to the Galapagos, B. exsul to Masafuera, B. poliosomus to Chili, Patagonia, and the Falklands.
Parabuteo unicinctus, ranging from the southern United States to Chili and Argentina, a sluggish carrion eater, is sooty-brown with rufous on the wing-coverts and thighs, and a white base and tip to the tail. Buteola brachyura and B. leucorrhoa of tropical America, separated from Buteo by a central tubercle in the nostril, are black above; the former being white below and having four dark bars on the ashy tail, the latter only shewing white at the base of the black rectrices, which are crossed by one grey bar.
Asturina, placed near Astur by some authors, includes two species with Buzzard-like habits, that build slight nests and lay greenish-white eggs. A. plagiata, found from the South-West United States to Panama, is grey, barred with black on the primaries and with white below, while a white median band crosses the rectrices, of which the coverts are black and white. A. nitida, reaching from Panama to south-east Brazil, differs in having white bars above. Rupornis magnirostris of Colombia, Guiana, and Amazonia–hardly separable from Asturina–has three black belts on the tail and is rufous instead of grey beneath; R. ruficauda of Central America, R. pucherani of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, and its Bolivian race R. saturata, have the chestnut remiges and rufous rectrices crossed with blackish, and the under surface as in the first-named, but the second is browner and shows a creamy patch on the primaries; R. nattereri, of Peru and Brazil, combines the chestnut primaries with an ashy and black tail; R. ridgwayi, of Haiti, is chiefly rufous and brown above, and slate-coloured with white bands below. R. pucherani is very noisy and eats fish.