Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1884 — The Eagles of New England. [ARTICLE]

The Eagles of New England.

■ There are but two .varieties of eagles ' found in New England—the bald eagle [Halinetus leucocephalus ) and the golden eagle ( Aquilla Canadensis). Both of thpse birds vary much in oolor and markings at different ag< s. The bald eagle is quite dark for the lirat year, and is called by those not famiiiar with the bird, the black eagle, and later, when grayish, the gray eagle ; and when , in adult plumage, the white-headed eagle. The young of the golden eagle has rings about the tail, and is called by hunters the ring-tailed eagle, and later, when the golden feathers appear.about the nech, the golden eagle. There is one never-failing mark by which the bald and golden eagle can be distinguished, no matter what the color or markings. The golden eagle is always feathered to the toes. The bald eaglets feather- d only down its thighs. The rough-legged falcon is feathered to the toes, with markings somewhat similar to the golden eagle, but -the size of the two birds is so unlike (that any novice need no.t blunder. The golden * eagle is from thirty to forty inches from ■ its beak to the tip of its tail, and from r'.'lx to seven feet in alar extent. The i rough-legged falcon is from nineteen to ‘ twenty-four inches in length, and from ? four to four and a half feet in alar .ex- ; tint. it is not uncommon to read of eagles . captured measuring from four to four md a half feet from tip to tip. There . *re,no such eagles. They are sitojaly hawks or falcons. fl once received & letter from a professional gentleman informing me that one of his neighbors had captured a fine specimen of an eagle, which I could i have by calling for it. I drove sixteen miles,in the worst of traveling in March ico get it, and found ,jt nothing but a ,-rough-legged falcon. In 1863,, when writing a series of articles on our rapacise, I described a bird captured its. our meadows as the Washington eagle—the bird was first described by Audubon and named by him after the Immortal Washington. It is now very generally believed by ornithologists that the bird described by Audubon is not a new species, but a young, ocrergrown female of the bald eagle. The young of onr rapacious fbjincLa are larger than the adult birds, sod the female is larger than the male. These facts were unknown to ornithologists at that time, and many new species were described v hich since have proved to be unmature birds. No bird has been captured in the last forty years that has folly answered the description given by Andabon, and if there was such a bird, with a h <»t of ornithologists on the alert, *om< one must have found it. -~ ~ - “I oo AOArsaT my Will,” murmured she sweetly, ns she fondly leaned on William’s arm, aa they meandered to the i tlpfiekv. j