bird usually makes its appearance such a mistake does
occasionally happen, and afterwards it becomes difficult to convince the
owner that he has not a Golden Eagle; in fact he usually feels rather
insulted when told of his mistake, and ignores all suggestions of
anything like an infallible test, so it may be as well to mention that
the birds may be distinguished in any state of plumage and at any age by
the tarsus, which in the White-tailed Eagle is bare of feathers and in
the Golden Eagle is feathered to the junction of the toes. I have one in
my possession shot at Bordeaux harbour on the 14th of November, 1871,
and I saw one in the flesh at Mr. Couch's, the bird-stuffer, which had
been shot at Alderney on the 2nd of November in the same year; and Mr.
MacCulloch writes to me that one was wounded and taken alive in the
parish of the Forest in Guernsey in 1845. It was said to be one of a
pair, and he adds--"I have known several instances of its appearance
since both here (Guernsey) and in Herm," but unluckily he gives no dates
and could not remember at what time of year any of the occurrences he
had noted had taken place. This is to be regretted, as although the bird
occurs almost every autumn--indeed, so frequently as to render mention
of further instances of its occurrence at that time of year
unnecessary--its occurrence in the spring is rare, and some of those
noted by Mr. MacCulloch might have been at that time of year. As it is,
I only know of one spring occurrence, and that was reported to me by Mr.
Couch as having taken place at Herm on the 23rd of March, 1877.

The White-tailed Eagle is included in Professor Ansted's list, but its
range in the Islands is restricted to Guernsey. There is one in the
museum, probably killed in Guernsey, in the plumage in which the Channel
Island specimens usually occur, but no note is given as to locality or
date.

2. OSPREY. _Pandion halioeetus_, Linnaeus. French, "Balbusard."--I have
never met with the Osprey myself in the Channel Islands, nor have I, as
far as I remember, seen a Channel Island specimen. I include it,
however, on the authority of a note kindly sent to me by Mr. MacCulloch,
who says:--"An Osprey was shot at St. Samsons, in Guernsey, on the 29th
of October, 1868. I cannot, however, say whether at the time it was
examined by a competent naturalist, and as both the Osprey and the
White-tailed Eagle are fishers, a mistake may have been made in naming
it." Of course