Sea eagle

“ It lives near the sea, and feeds, as has been said, on sea-birds; when in pursuit of them it catches them one by one, watching the moment when the bird rises to the surface from its dive. When a sea-bird, emerging from the water, sees the sea-eagle, he in terror dives under, intending to rise again elsewhere; the eagle, however, owing to its keenness of vision, keeps flying after him until he either drowns the bird or catches him on the surface. The eagle never attacks these birds when they are in a swarm, for they keep him off by raising a shower of water-drops with their wings. ”

“ The largest eagle we have in Great Britain is the erne or white-tailed eagle—the sea-eagle. Not that it fishes for its food; indeed, it seldom eats fish unless it happens to rob another bird. But it levies toll upon the sea-birds themselves, harrying the guillemot and puffin, and making them its prey. ”

“ Presently, a great eagle swooped down upon him from the lift and seizing him in its talons, flew away with him betwixt heaven and earth, till it came to an island in the midst of the sea, where it cast him down and flew away. The youth was dazed and knew not whither he should wend, but after a few days as he sat pondering his case, he caught sight of the sails of a ship in the middlemost of the main, as it were a star in the sky; and his heart clave to it, so haply his deliverance might be therein. ”

“ The sea-eagle has a more varied dietary than the species last described, and he hunts for food both on sea and land. In his habits he is by turns osprey, falcon, and raven. Like the osprey, he drops from a considerable height on to a fish seen near the surface, and, striking his talons into it, bears it away to land. But he preys more on puffins, guillemots, and other sea-fowl, than on fish. Like the golden eagle, he destroys mountain hares, grouse, and ptarmigan, and is regarded by the shepherd as the worst enemy to the flock. ”

“ On another occasion, a golden eagle was found in the bath, or large trough in which the eagles delight to roll ; it was supposed by the keeper to have been forced under water by one of the sea eagles, but more probably it got cramped, as the birds seem often to carry their bathing to excess. It is a remarkable fact, that a sea eagle but one year old, seemed to be generally acknowledged as the superior of the whole. This bird seized the first piece of food thrown into the cage as its acknowledged right ”

“ The sea-eagle is very quick sighted, and compels its young ones while still naked to look at the sun, and if one of them will not do so it beats it and turns it round; and the young one which first weeps it kills, the other it rears. ”

“ The eagle has such keen vision, that if it is high up among the clouds, soaring through the air, it sees the fish swimming beneath it, in river or sea; then down it shoots upon the fish and seizes and drags it to the shore. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The eagles live together, if not in harmony, at least in a sort of mutual respect towards each other. I know of only one quarrel, and at this I happened to be present. A sea eagle pounced on a golden eagle ; the latter threw itself on its back, when the former with its talons seized it by the legs until it seemed to faint in agony, while the assailant gave forth its loudest barking cry in triumph. I had some difficulty in beating this bird off the other with a pole ; it was removed from the cage. ”

“ And as the day and the night by land have their relentless freebooters, so the sea too has its eagle king; for the Osprey, with its nest on a high rock, hovers over the open sea, and, dashing into the deep, returns with a large fish in its claws; and, as it tears the flesh from under the glittering scales, reminds us that there is no spot on the earth in which some bird does not seek its prey. ”

“ Chief among the birds of prey are the osprey, the white-headed sea-eagle, and the white-bellied sea-eagle. The great wedge-tailed eagle (eagle-hawk) is a rare visitor, and is not a fisher. The others are resident and are industrious practisers of the art which, according to their interpretation, is anything but gentle. As they indulge in it, the sport is so rough and boisterous and clumsy that one wonders that so many fish should be caught. ”

“ It is a heavy bird, and its mode of life is bad. It carries about dead creatures; it is always hungry, and screams and cries.
3. There is another kind of eagle called sea eagle, which has a long and thick neck, curved wings, and a wide rump. It inhabits the sea and the coast. When they have seized their prey, and cannot carry it away, they are borne down into the sea. There is, again, another kind of eagle, called true eagle. They say that these alone of all other birds are true, for the other kinds are mixed and crossed with each other, both eagles, hawks, and other smaller kinds. ”

“ Each of its wings, if stretched out as when the bird is flying, measures more than the height of a man; yet even such an enormous bird as this does not sink down by its own weight, but flies mile after mile upon its strong wings, every feather of which unites strength and lightness, never resting till its airy voyage is over, and it finds its nest. It is said that when storms sweep over the sea, this "ocean eagle" mounts upward until it has reached the calm which lies above the storm, and so sails upon its untroubled way. ”

“ Though the Sea Eagle lives mainly on fish and refuse cast up by the sea, it is pitiful to read that, though this interesting, picturesque, and valuable bird was once common, not one is left on the mainland of Scotland. Could blind, unreasoning slaughter do more? Why kill a harmless bird? ”

“ On the following day I saw five sea eagles in mature plumage Footnote 1 all that were then said to be at " the Horn." The bird which we raised from the nest containing eggs, was thought by the gamekeeper to have no partner, as he had killed a male bird a few weeks before. I gazed for a long time at three of these eagles, both when they were at rest and on wing ”

“ 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. ”

“ An eagle soaring above a sheer cliff, where I suppose its nest is, makes another striking show of life, and helps to bring to mind the other people of the so-called solitude—deer in the forest caring for their young; the strong, well-clad, well-fed bears; the lively throng of squirrels; the blessed birds, great and small, stirring and sweetening the groves; and the clouds of happy insects filling the sky with joyous hum as part and parcel of the down-pouring sunshine. All these come to mind, as well as the plant people, and the glad streams singing their way to the sea. ”

“ Hares, roes, and even red deer, it also attacks, but it does not haunt the shores for fish so much as the Sea Eagle does. There seems very little probability that Eagles have the sense of smell very acute, but that their vision is so is evident. I am not, however, inclined to think that they perceive objects from the vast height to which they sometimes soar, because I never saw one descend from such an elevation in a manner indicating that it had observed a carcase or other eatable object ”

“ This last character distinguishes them at once from their nearest allies—the sea-eagles of the genus Haliaëtus. Nine species of true eagles are well distinguished, although in this, as in allied genera, much confusion has arisen from the diversity of plumage at different ages. Only one of them occurs in North America. This is the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus) , of which the ‘ring-tailed’ eagle is the young. It is 30 to 35 inches in length, and 61⁄2 to 7 feet in spread of wing; the female is rather larger than the male. ”

“ As it is almost invariably seen in pairs, it would appear to be permanently mated; each pair inhabiting a particular bay or inlet, to the exclusion of others of the same species. Unless disturbed or harassed, the White-bellied Sea-eagle does not shun the abode of man, but becomes fearless and familiar. ”

“ The Sea Eagle, on the contrary, is a foul feeder, and will eat all kinds of fish; he also watches the fords over which salmon leap in ascending rivers, and often makes them his prey. Few have enjoyed better opportunities than I have for studying the habits of the Golden Eagle, for they frequent the hills around my house, and for the last twenty-four years I have had a tame one, which seems to attract the wild ones, who sometimes sit on the top of her cage. In 1875 she laid two eggs, and last year four. ”

“ It poises itself aloft, and the moment it catches sight of a fish in the sea below, pounces headlong upon it, and cleaving the water with its breast, carries off its prey.
The eagle which we have mentioned as forming the third species, pursues the aquatic birds in the vicinity of standing waters: in order to make their escape they plunge into the water every now and then, until at length they are overtaken by lassitude and sleep, upon which the eagle immediately seizes them. The contest that takes place is really a sight worthy to be seen. ”

“ The golden or mountain eagle, Aquila chrysaetus, is the second British species. This also formerly inhabited England, and a nest, found in 1668 in the Peak of Derbyshire, is well described by Willughby, in whose time it was said to breed also in the Snowdon range. It seldom if ever frequents the coast, and is more active on the wing than the sea-eagle, being able to take some birds as they fly, but a large part of its sustenance is the flesh of animals that die a natural death. ”

“ I would almost call it a species, if A. albicilla did not vary so much. The size is much greater than ordinary, and the bearing more lofty ; besides, our living specimen, though young when we got it, assumed the mastery over a number of others, and has kept it ever since.Footnote 15 It cannot be that this is merely the female, or else in about thirty living sea eagles which we have had, we never had any but this one. There is a good deal of white on the back, and the breast is strongly and very beautifully spotted with that colour. ”

“ Till our eye-balls cracked with the salt and the frost;
Till only iron and fire that night
Survived on the ice as we stumbled on;
As we fell and rose and plunged—till the light
In the south and east disclosed the dawn,
And the sea heaving with floes—and then,
The Eagle in wild pursuit of her men. ”

“ Although several species of real eagles inhabit the Mediterranean region and those parts of Europe and Asia where these nations lived, and warred, and passed away, and are somewhat confused in the mass of myth and tradition relating to them, the one chosen by Rome was the golden eagle, so called because of the golden gloss that suffuses the feathers of the neck in mature birds. Now we have this species of sea-eagle in the United States, and it has been from time immemorial the honored War-eagle of the native redmen. ”

“ Two of these birds (adults) were seen by us the next day,soaring above a lake in the island, and we were informed by Lieutenant Reynolds Footnote 9 that four pair of sea eagles breed in Achil. With respect to their being in so wild a district comparatively fearless of man, it may be stated, that the gentleman just named when once shooting there, had, with his first barrel brought down a grouse, which an eagle stooped to carry off, and when just in the act of seizing, was itself shot by the second barrel. ”

“ Footnote 6 Flaherty, in his West or H-Iar Connanght, written in 1684, and published by the Irish Archaeological Society in 1846, remarks at p. 12: — "Here is a kind of black eagle, which kills the deere by grappling him with his claw, and forcing him to run headlong into precipices." The golden eagle being a bold bird, as well as darker coloured than the sea eagle, is, I presume, meant. ”

“ The adults have the body brownish, becoming darker with age; the feathers of the head and neck pointed, and of a golden-red hue. This species is found all over the northern hemisphere. It was once common in the Highlands of Scotland, but is now becoming rare. The Kirghis and other tribes of Central Asia use the golden eagle to kill antelopes, foxes, and even wolves. Another British eagle is the erne or sea-eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla) found near the sea-coast or lakes, and feeding largely on fish. The general colour is greyish-brown, the head pale-coloured, the tail white. ”

“ These birds live near the sea-shore, and feed upon fish. Their sight is so piercing that they can mark a fish swimming far below them as they hover over the water, and, pouncing down, will strike their strong talons into it, and steer themselves and their prey ashore by their great outspread wings. The African Eagle is said to be very generous in his disposition, and certainly deserves to be called kingly. Although he will not allow any large bird to dwell in peace [11] too near him, yet he never harms the little warblers who flutter round his nest. ”