Hab. Europe and in Greenland.
LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED.
National Museum, 3; Philadelphia Academy, 3; New York Museum, 2; Boston Society, 2; Cambridge Museum, 1. Total, 11.
| Sex. | Wing. | Tail. | Culmen. | Tarsus. | Middle Toe. | Specimens. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♂ 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.
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.”