Historical Sources & Eagle Tales

A White-tailed Eagle Database Project

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Historical Sources & Eagle Tales

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Historical Ornithological Sources & Eagle Tales
From ancient world to 19th century there are many sources, telling something about raptor observations. Maybe not serious by today´s standards - but also in these texts could be a hint or an inspiration. This topic contains historical sources, some very old traditional eagle stories and current scientific texts about White-tailed Eagle bones in archaeological excavation sites.
  • - A big collection of sources can be found in “animalbase.de” http://www.animalbase.de/ and “the SORA project” http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/index.php.
    - Try also Google - function: "more"/"books". After sending your keyword choose "full view" at the left side of the page. Now your can read whole books online. In many cases there´s also the option to make a pdf copy. When you "opened" the book, you will see the button "Download PDF" in the headline at the far right.

    http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp
    - Just copy one of the older, little-known terms below and paste it into SORA, animalbase or Google books.
English:
White-tailed Sea Eagle, White-tailed Fish Eagle, Sea Eagle, Ern(e), Great Erne, Grey Eagle, Grey Sea Eagle, Greenland White-Tailed Eagle, Silver Eagle, Cinereous Eagle, Cinereous Sea Eagle, European Eagle, European Sea Eagle

In the Hebrides and Highlands the old bird was named an lolair ghlas (the Grey Eagle); the young an lolair riamhach (the Striped Eagle).

German:
Weißbürzel, Geieradler Albicilla, Wittschwanz, Meeradler, Seeadler, Gänseadler, Gänseadler Ossifragus, Gänse-Aar, Goosaar, Gelbschnabel, Weißschwanz, weißschwänziger Adler, aschgrauer Adler, fahler Adler and braunfahler Adler, grosser Fischadler, Fischgeier, Fischjäger, Pygarg, grosser Hosenadler, Hosenaar, Beinbrecher or Steinbrecher, Beinbrechadler, Gemsenadler, schwarzer Adler and grosser schwarzer Adler, schwarzbrauner Adler or bärtiger Adler, also Steinadler.

Scientific:
Haliaeetus nisus Savigny,1826; Haliaëtus brooksi Hume, 1870; Haliaëtus hypoleucus Ridgway, 1884; Haliaetos orientalis Brehm, 1831; Haliaetos islandicus Brehm, 1831; Haliaetos leucocephalus Brehm, 1831; Haliaetos groenlandicus Brehm, 1831; Haliaetos cinereus Brehm, 1855; Haliaetos funereus Brehm, 1855; Vulture albicilla Linnaeus, 1758; Aquila albicilla Nilson, 1858; Aquila borealis Brehm, 1824; Aquila Islandica Brehm, 1824; Aquila Groenlandica Brehm, 1824; Falco albicilla Linnaeus, 1758; Falco melanaëtos Linnaeus, 1766; Falco Ossifragus Linnaeus, 1766; Falco albicaudus Gmelin, 1788; Falco hinnularius Latham, 1790; Falco pygargus Daudin, 1800.

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INDEX

  • 1. Birdbook, Conrad Gesner, 16th century

    2. Capture of the White-tailed Eagle, Suffolk Coast, February 1838.

    3. The White-tailed Eagle at Shoreham, 1864

    4. Eggs of Finnish Birds

    5. Havørn - Seeadler, Sea Eagle-song, 1908

    6. White-tailed Eagles in Scotland, early 19th century

    7. Eagles could scarcely be considered as singing-birds, 1833

    8. The archaeology of wings. Birds and people in the Baltic Sea region during the Stone Age

    9. “Tomb of the eagles” - Bronze Age burial tomb at Isbister on South Ronaldsay, Orkney

    10. The Sea Eagle and the Gull. A Dreamtime Story, Western Australia

    11. Eagle Boy. Indian Legend, New Mexico

    12. Bird bones from Jettböle I, a site in the Neolithic Åland archipelago in the northern Baltic

    13. Identification of the Extinct Hawaiian Eagle (Haliaeetus) by mtDNA Sequence Analysis

    14. Early 19th century: The Erne. Pygargus, or White-tailed Eagle

    15. Breeding sites in Orkney and Shetland. Winter visitors from Norway and Iceland, first half of the 19th century

    16. White-tailed Eagle breeding pairs in Shetland, first half of the 19th century

    17. Eagle tales - Isle of Rum; Derbyshire, 17th and 19th century

    18. The Eagle in England. WTE breeding places and (Sea) Eagle sightings, end of the 19th century

    19. The Story of the last British White-tailed Eagle, early 20th century

    20. White-tailed Eagles, UK, end of the 18th/early 19th century

    21. White-tailed Eagles in Europe, early 19th century

    22. About dangerous prey, Shetland, mid-19th century

    23. White-tailed Eagles were hunted for their remiges

    24. Bird remains of Medieval and Post-Medieval coastal sites at the Southern Baltic Sea, Poland

    25. White-tailed Eagle persecution in England before 1852

    26. White-tailed Eagles in Middle Franconia, Germany 1864

    27. Presumed Symbolic Use of Diurnal Raptors by Neanderthals

    28. Eagles were important to Vikings. Denmark

    29. Archaeozoological evidence for the White-tailed Eagle in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany)

    30. Ireland’s Lost Birds

    31.Evidence for Neandertal Jewelry: Modified White-Tailed Eagle Claws at Krapina. March 2015
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1.Birdbook, Conrad Gesner, 16th century

Conrad Gesner is known as one of the most famous and important natural scientists (Swiss, 16th century).

Reproduction of his “Birdbook” (Vogelbuch). German text. Providet by Keio Universtiy, Japan.

The HUMI (HUmanities Media Interface) Project is an inter-faculty initiative launched at Keio University in 1996 in order to pursue research in the field of digital bibliography and to construct a research environment for that purpose.

White-tailed Eagles and other birds of prey mentioned.

:chick: Contains illustrations.

http://www.humi.mita.keio.ac.jp/treasur ... /l001.html
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2.Capture of the White-tailed Eagle, (Falco albicilla: Penn. Mont. Haliaetus albicilla., Selby), on the Suffolk Coast, February 22.d, 1838.

"A fine specimen of this noble bird, an adult female, was observed by some boatmen to fall into the sea, at the mouth of the River Orwell, and not again rising, they put off and secured it without difficulty: it expired in a few minutes after its capture. The men who secured it could give no reason for its thus falling, (unless it pounced at a fish, and was unable to mount again), as it was in fine condition, and did not appear to have been wounded. Thinking the above might be interesting to some of your numerous readers, (if thought worthy of insertion), I have taken the liberty of forwarding it, the bird being in my possession.

Ipswich, February, 1838. T. Townsend."

Magazine of Natural History, Vol. 2, Short communications, p. 292.
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3.The Whitetailed Eagle at Shoreham

"l have a beautiful specimen of the whitetailed eagle, which was brought to me on Friday, November 13th; it had been killed the day before at Shoreham, where it was first observed flying over the town, and was marked down near the edge of the water. A friend of mine having heard of it, immediately went in pursuit, but before he reached the spot it had been disturbed by a coast-guardsman : it then flew about half a mile, followed by a number of rooks and gulls, anxious to drive it from the neighbourhood.

Before my friend came up with it, it again rose, and flew a long distance on towards Worthing: with the greatest haste, he again made towards it, and, creeping behind a ridge of the beach, got within forty-three yards of it; on his first looking over, it was feeding on a gull, but immediately the bird saw him, it rose with great difficulty, when he shot it, breaking the right wing, but even after this it was a very formidable creature to secure. The bird proves to be a female, measuring in length 3 feet 4 inches, and in extent of wings 7 feet 11 inches. The plumage is very fine, having, I suppose,completed its moulting; the tail is about three parts white. It is very remarkable that the wing was broken with No. 6 shot.—

H. Pratt ; 44, Ship Street, Brighton."

Zoologist: a monthly journal of natural history, p.8875 (The Zoologist for 1864. Pp. 8865—9384.)
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4.Eggs of Finnish Birds

Helsingfors, 1881

Text by J.A. Palmén (English and German)

:chick: Drawn and coloured by G. Sundman

WTE and other raptors mentioned; also some WTE breeding territories, Finland, 19th century.

https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10 ... sequence=2
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5.Havørn - Seeadler

Sea Eagle-song, 1908

Text in Norwegian and German.

:chick: Title page, sheet of music

Document: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDo ... leId=18371
Source: http://hdl.handle.net/1802/9089
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6.White-tailed Eagles in Scotland, early 19th century

“The general question concerning Eagles in Scotland may now be squeezed into very small compass. Exclusive of the true Osprey, (Falco Haliteetus,) which is rather a large fishing hawk than an eagle, there are only two kinds, viz.— the Golden Eagle, (F. Chrysaetos) and the White tailed, or Cinereous Eagle, (F. Albicilla.) The other two nominal species are disposed of in the following manner: First, the Ring-tailed Eagle, (F. Fulvus) is the young of the Golden Eagle, being distinguished in early life by having the basal and central portion of the tail white, which colour disappears as the bird attains the adult state. Second, the Sea Eagle, (F. Oasifragus) commonly so called, is the young of the White-tailed Eagle abovenamed, from which it differs in having a brown tail; for in this species the white of the tail becomes every year more apparent, as the bird encreases in age, whereas, in the Golden Eagle, the white altogether disappears in tho adult. It is to the Ring-tailed Eagle, and, by consequence, to the Golden Eagle, that the name of Black Eagle is applied in the Highlands.

The White-tailed, or Sea Eagle, as it becomes old, attains, in addition to the pure tail, a pale or bleached appearance, from which it may merit and obtain the name of Grey or Silver Eagle, as Sir Humphry Davy chooses to call it; but it is not known, among naturalists, by that name. There is no other species, however, to which the name can apply; and, therefore, Sir Humphry has committed the very gross mistake of calling the Grey or Silver Eagle (to use his own nomenclature) a very rare Eagle, since it is the most common of all the Scotch, and also—a fortiori—of all the English Eagles—being in fact the Sea Eagle of the Highlands. It preys often on fish dead or alive; but not exclusively, as it also attacks young lambs, and drives off the ravens from carrion prey, being less fastidious in its diet than the Golden Eagle, which probably kills its own meat— and has been known to carry off children; for a striking account of one of which hay-field robberies, see our splendid reviewofSelby's Ornithology.

As to its driving off its young, its habits are probably similar in this respect to other birds of prey, none of which appear to keep together in families after the young can shift for themselves; but we have never met with any one who has seen them in the act of driving. It is stated vaguely, in all books, of all eagles.
As to its requiring a. large range to feed in—we have only to remark, that, from the powerful flight of these birds, and the wild and barren nature of the countries which they inhabit, there can be no doubt that they fly far, and " prey in distant isles"—as Thomson has it; but Halieus needed not to have stated this circumstance as a character of this peculiar eagle,— for an eagle with a small range does not exist; and therefore it is to be presumed that they require a large one.

Farther, all this being the case, there seems to be no necessity for the old eagles giving themselves the trouble to drive off the young ones, who by natural instinct will fly off of their own accord, as soon as their wings can bear them over the sea. If an eagle were so partial to his native vale, as never, on any account, hungry or thirsty, drunk or sober, to venture into the next parish, why then, the old people would be forced, on the old principle of self-preservation, to pack off their progeny to bed and board beyond Benevis. But an Eagle is a Citizen of the World. He is friendly to the views of Mr Huskisson on the Wool Trade, the Fisheries and the Colonies—andacts upon the old adage,

" Every bird for himself, and God for us all !"

To conclude, for the present, this branch of our subject, we beg leave humbly to express our belief, that Sir Humphry Davy never saw the Eagle by him called the Grey or Silver, hunting for fish in the style described in Salmonia. It does not dislike -fish— but it is not its nature to keep hunting for them so, not in the Highlands at least, whatever it may do in American continents or isles. Sir Humphry talks of the bird dashing down repeatedly upon a pool within shot of the anglers. We have angled fifty times in the Highlands for Sir Humphry's once, but never saw nor heard of such a sight. He has read of such things, and introduced them into this dialogue for the sake of effect—all quite right to do—had his reading lain among trust - worthy Ornithologists. The common Eagle—which he ignorantly, as we have seen, calls so rare—is a shy bird, as all shepherds know—and is seldom within range of the rifle.”

Blackwood's magazine, Vol. XXIV, July-December 1828, page 263. Edinburgh, 1828
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7.Eagles could scarcely be considered as singing-birds

“Montagu says, two living eagles were sent to us from Ireland, and were, on their arrival at Bristol, detained by an officer of excise, upon a plea that there was a duty upon all singing-birds. Had this happened on the other side of the water, it might have been termed an Irish story. The unfortunate birds would, however, have been starved at the custom-house, if application had not been made to the head of that department in the port of Bristol, offering to pay any demand for their release, if legally detained for their vocal abilities. By this officer it was most wisely determined, after some consideration, that eagles could scarcely be considered as singing-birds.”

The Field Book, or: Sports and Pastimes of the United Kingdom; compiled from the best authorities (…), London, 1833, Page 166

Hear them singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_GxsEos ... 8&index=41
(Female eagle; breeding.) Posted by kenny, WTE Cam Forum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPZ5HOp ... embedded#!
(Duet; young adult eagles, male and female, almost four month old.) Posted by fireblade, WTE Cam Forum
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8.The archaeology of wings. Birds and people in the Baltic Sea region during the Stone Age

Kristiina Mannermaa, Helsinki, 2008

White-tailed Eagles mentioned

https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10 ... sequence=1
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9.“Tomb of the eagles” - Bronze Age burial tomb at Isbister on South Ronaldsay, Orkney UK

“The dates confirm growing evidence that Orkney's neolithic tombs remained in use, and accessible to people and animals (though there is no doubt the eagles were deliberately buried at Isbister), for many generations.”
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba86/news.shtml#item1

“70 talons from the white-tailed sea eagle and the remains of at least 14 birds were found inside the tomb (…). Found alongside of the human remains, it is believed these magnificent birds, once common in Orkney, were perhaps a totem of the people who built the tomb.”
http://www.tomboftheeagles.co.uk/introduction.asp

The significance of the eagle
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/isbister/eagle.htm
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10.The Sea Eagle and the Gull

A Dreamtime story, told by the Bardi people of Cape Leveque, Western Australia.

http://www.mesa.edu.au/friends/nt/Eagle_Gull_story.pdf

The Dreamtime:
“According to Aboriginal belief, all life as it is today - Human, Animal, Bird and Fish is part of one vast unchanging network of relationships which can be traced to the great spirit ancestors of the Dreamtime.” Read more about: http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/dreamtime2.html

The Gulls:
"Once upon a time, gulls used to eat fish, now they mostly eat mobile phones and baleen whales. (...) Best not to look too carefully at the foreground or background (...)." http://punkbirder.webs.com/nastygulls.htm
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11.Eagle Boy - The legend about a boy who traveled to the Land of the Eagles

Told by the Zuni Indian Tribe, New Mexico. Submitted by Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.

http://www.manataka.org/page786.html

The Official Site of the Zuni Tribe
http://www.ashiwi.org/AboutUs.aspx
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12.Bird bones from Jettböle I, a site in the Neolithic Åland archipelago in the northern Baltic

Kristiina Mannermaa

Received: 11 Sep., 2001. Accepted for publication: 17 Dec., 2001

"The available information on the history of the northern Baltic bird fauna and its prehistoric exploitation is sparse. (…) The Baltic birds are, however, interesting both faunistically and archaeologically. Osteology can help us to reconstruct how the Baltic Sea got its characteristic breeding bird assemblage (…).”

http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/ ... /45/06.pdf
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13.Identification of the Extinct Hawaiian Eagle (Haliaeetus) by mtDNA Sequence Analysis

The Auk 117(4):1051-1056, 2000

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v117n0 ... p01056.pdf
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14.Early 19th century: The Erne. Pygargus, or White-tailed Eagle

"This species I only lately discovered in the Orkneys, though it is resident in them, and brings forth its young there. (…) A pair of these birds build their nests in the Black Craig of Stromness, and I am told have done so these many years, none* else of the kind offering to disturb that spot, which these have chosen for their retreat.

*This is an old observation, that the eagles maintain their right to that spot."

Fauna Orcadensis: or, The natural history of the quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and fishes of Orkney and
Shetland, page 34. George Low, Edinburgh, 1813
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15.Breeding sites in Orkney and Shetland. Winter visitors from Norway and Iceland, first half of the 19th century

"This bird breeds in both countries, and is the only species of Eagle inhabiting Shetland. The places most frequented by it, and where it breeds in the latter country, are, the Bard of Bressa, on the west side of Rona's Hill, in Northmaven, at Fitfullhead, the southernmost extremity of the mainland, and at Hoy in Orkney. These situations are admirably adapted for its residence, being highly mountainous, with bold cliffs facing the sea and in many places the summits overhanging the base. On the shelves and in the fissures of these rocks they are perfectly secure from the attacks of man; for, from their natural position, it is almost impossible to get at their nests. On my first trip to Shetland I obtained two, and on my last six. I am informed they are more numerous in winter than in the summer, probably in consequence of some migrating from Norway and Iceland at that season."

The ornithologist's guide to the islands of Orkney and Shetland, pp 72,73. Robert Dunn (Animal Preserver), London 1837
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16.White-tailed Eagle breeding pairs in Shetland, first half of the 19th century

"There are known to be from eight to twelve pairs of eagles (the white tailed eagle) that have their nests in these islands. They are chiefly on the western side; for there the cliffs are comparatively lofty and precipitous, as if nature had prepared against the fell fury of the Atlantic billows an appropriate and unconquerable barrier."

Chambers's Edinburgh journal, Vol. XI, January-June 1849, page 181 (The birds of Shetland, by a resident)
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17.Eagle tales - Isle of Rum; Derbyshire

"The eagles in the Isle of Rum have nearly extirpated the stags that used to abound there. They generally build in clefts of rocks near the deer forests; and make great havoc among them, the white hares, and the ptarmigans. Willoughby gives the following curious account of the nest of this species :— "In 1668, in the woodlands near the River Derwent, in the peak of Derbyshire, was found an eagle's nest, made of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birch trees; upon which was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again; upon which lay one young one and an addled egg; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath poults. The nest was about two yards square, and had no hollow in it.””

The Field Book, or: Sports and Pastimes of the United Kingdom; compiled from the best authorities (…), London, 1833, Page 166
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18.The Eagle in England

White-tailed Eagle breeding places and (Sea) Eagle sightings, end of the 19th century.

C. J. Cornish, Wild England of To-Day (and the wild life in it), 1895

:chick: Illustration: Eagle´s nest (see front Page)

http://www.archive.org/stream/wildengla ... 6/mode/2up
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