A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

Plate CCCCXXII. Fig. 1. Old Male. Fig. 2. Young, first winter.

Plate CLXVI. Male. Middle age.

Tarsi feathered in their whole length. Adult male with the general colour of the plumage blackish-brown; the forehead and a large patch on the hind neck white, streaked with blackish-brown; all the feathers of the back, the scapulars, the wing-coverts, the quills, and the tail-feathers, white toward the base, and more or less barred with whitish-grey, or brown; axillar feathers, some of those on the sides, and some of the tibial feathers, with the lower tail-coverts similarly marked; the white forming a conspicuous patch on the under surface of the wing, occupying the greater part of the primaries as well as part of the inner webs of the secondaries; tail brownish-black, barred with greyish-white, there being six black bands on the middle feathers, the last very broad. Female of a uniform dark chocolate-brown, the tail banded, and the same parts white as in the male. Young with the head and neck streaked with umber-brown, and yellowish-white; back umber-brown, variegated with light reddish-brown and yellowish-white; quills dark brown towards the end, the outer webs of the first tinged with grey, the base of all white, that colour extending farther on the secondaries, of most of which, and of some of the primaries, the inner web is irregularly barred with brown; tail white at the base, brown toward the end, with a broad subterminal bar of brownish-black, the tips brownish-white; middle and hind part of the breast, with the sides, brownish-black, the rest of the lower parts pale yellowish-red, streaked or barred with dusky.

Male, 21¹/₂, 51¹/₂. Female, 23.

From Maryland northward. Columbia River. Not met with in the interior. Migratory. Not very abundant.

Black Hawk, Falco niger, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 82. Adult.

Falco lagopus, Bonap. Syn. p. 32. Young.

Falco Sanci-Johannis, Bonap. Syn. p. 32. Adult.

Buteo lagopus, Rough-legged Buzzard, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 52.

Rough-legged Falcon, Falco lagopus, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 59, Young; v. v. p. 216, Adult and Young.

GENUS III. AQUILA, Briss. EAGLE.

Bill rather short, deep, compressed; upper mandible with the dorsal outline nearly straight and sloping at the base, beyond the cere decurved, the sides sloping and slightly convex, the edges nearly straight, with a slight convexity and a shallow sinus close to the strong subtrigonal tip; lower mandible with the dorsal outline convex, the tip obliquely truncate. Head large, roundish, flattened above. Nostrils oval, oblique, nearer the ridge than the margin. Neck rather short. Body very large. Feet rather short, very robust; tarsi roundish, feathered to the toes; which are rather short, united at the base by short webs, covered above with a series of angular scales, and towards the end with a few large scutella; claws long, curved, rounded, flat beneath, acuminate. Plumage compact, imbricated, glossy; feathers of the head and neck narrow and pointed; space between the bill and eye covered with small bristle-pointed feathers disposed in a radiating manner. Wings long, the fourth quill longest; the first short; the outer six abruptly cut out on the inner web. Tail rather long, ample, rounded.

12. 1. Aquila Chrysaetos, Linn. Golden Eagle.

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.