SEA-F.11.1.Es. Next in importance come the sea eagles or ernes of the genus IlaliaiItus. which haunt coasts and large river-courses. and feed mainly upon fish in all parts of the world. Here belongs the American white-headed or 'bald' the national emblem of the United States (11a1 ioi.t lcueoe(phalus)—an unfortunatechoice when its predatory methods are considered. This eagle originally was numerous all over North America. and still survives near the coast. around the Oreat Lakes. and along the larger rivers in cmisidurable numbers, wherever it is not too ruthlessly persecuted. It is nearly as big as the golden eagle. but is not feathered to the toes. and its neck, and tail, after the third year, are perfectly white. It does not migrate. ex cept the most northerly. ice-bound portions of its range. and is, indeed. a home keeper. a single pair sometimes occupying the same great nest of sticks, repaired each season, for many years in succession, followed perhaps by their descendants, for nests are Inns is near Cleveland, Ohio) which ha•e not been vacant for nearly a century. Two is the usual number of eggs. This eagle feeds upon fish mainly. For Inc most part this is picked, dead or dying, front the surface or shore; bald eagles have always abounded in the of Niagara Falls. because of the constant supply of fish found there, killed by going over the falls or being (-aught in the whirlpools below. They also regularly attack fish-hawks. and compel them to drop what they have caught. When fish are not obtainable- they cat carrion, or kill small birds and mammals. as do the buzzard-hawks, now and then capturing poultry.
The sea-ca.gles of the Old World are larger than the bald The most familiar is the wit e-t a erne ), now. nearly exterminated from Oreat Britain. except in the far north of Scotland. but a familiar sight
on the coasts of the Hebrides, and thence east ward throughout Europe and most of Asia. In Siberia and Kamchatka still greater species are found. Steller'- sea-eagle, which ranges from China and Japan to the Aleutian Islands. attain ing a length of 11 inches—the largest of iti tribe. Africa has several species, ritysmit A NI) OTIIER EAGt.ys. Members, of sev eral allied genera are usually called eagles. A re markable one is tine ‘hataleur' Ilclotorsas emu flatus) of \frien, whose plumage is most strik ingly variegated with maroon. black. and grow, and whose head is covered with large upstand ing feathers; its food is mainly snakes and lizards. The buzzard and harrier eagles of the genera Batastur and Circaetus, whose several siweies are African and South Asiatic, are also fond of a reptilian diet ; while au Oriental genus of large handsome birds arc usually called by natives 'serpent eagles' (q.v.) ; among the Most conspicuous of these is the Philippine one (spilornis holospilus). the whole plumage being brown, spotted with white. Several forms of handsome crested eagles are African and East Indian. and much that is interesting might he related of them and of the hawk-eagles. did space permit. Australia possesses a single and peculiar species in the carrion-feeding wedge-tailed eagle ( Croai't us (ludas) and in the fierce tropical harpies (genus Ilarpyhaliaetus) South Ameri ca has representatives of this family almost equaling in size and surpassing in courage and power those of all the rest of the world. See 11.kneY-EAGLF..
The literature relating to eagles is little sepa rated from that of birds generally, as outlined under Bum. For the limited use made of eagles in falconry, where they were counted 'ignoble,' see FAtcosnY. See Plate of EAGLES AND 11AWKS.