White-tailed Eagle

SCI Name:  Haliaeetus albicilla
Protonym:  Falco Albicilla Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.89
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Haliaeetus
Taxonomy Code:  whteag
Type Locality:  Restricted type locality, Sweden, ex Fn. Suec.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HALIAEETUS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ White-tailed Eagle H. albicilla) L. haliaetus or haliaetos  sea-eagle, osprey  < Gr. ἁλιαιετος haliaietos  sea-eagle, osprey  < ἁλι- hali-  sea-  < ἁλς hals, ἁλος halos  sea; αετος aetos  eagle; "6. HALIÆETUS. Bec assez droit à la base; cire convexe; narines lunulées, transverses; tarses épais, écailleux: ongles intérieur et postérieur grands.  ...  GENRE VI, HALIÆETUS.  ...  ESPÈCE.  9. HALIÆETUS Nisus.  L'Aigle de mer." (de Savigny 1809): based on Aλιαιετος, Nisus, and Haliæetos of ancient authors, "Pygargus" and "Albicilla" of Aldrovandus 1599-1603, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713, and Vultur Albicilla Linnaeus, 1766; "Haliæetus Savigny, Descr. Égypte, Ois., 1809, p. 68, 85. Type, by monotypy, Haliæetus nisus Savigny = Falco albicilla Linné." (Peters, 1931, I, p. 257). 
Var. Haliaeatus, Haliaetos, Haliaetus, Haliacetus, Halaeetus, Halioetus, Halyaetus, Heliaeetus. 
Synon. Blagrus, Cuncuma, Ossifraga, Pontoaetus, Thalasoaetus.

albicilla / albicillus
● Med. L. Albicilla Gaza’s 1476 name for the White-tailed Eagle (equivalent to Gr. πυγαργος pugargos  type of eagle  < πυγη pugē  rump; αργος argos  white); "41. FALCO.  ...  Albicilla.  8. F. cera flava, rectricibus albis: intermediis apice nigris. Fn. svec. 58.  Pygargus, Albicilla, Hinnularia. Bell. av. 15. Gesn. av. 205. Aldr. orn. l. 2. c. 5. Will. ornith. 31. Raj. av. 7. n. 5.  β. Aquila, capite albo. Catesb. car. I. p. 1. t. 1.  Habitat in Europa, America." (Linnaeus 1758). This epithet is the fourteenth name in avian nomeclature (Haliaeetus).
● L. albus  white; -capillus  headed  < capillus  hair of the head (Mohoua (the Moineau a tête blanche of Lesson 1830), syn. Myiopagis gaimardii, subsp. Todiramphus chloris (the Alcyon a tête blanche of Dumont de Sainte Croix 1823)).
● Mod. L. albicilla  white-tailed  < L. albus  white; Mod. L. cilla  tail; the mistaken use of cilla for tail in ornithology goes back to mediaeval writers who misread motacilla, Varro’s name for the wagtail (< dim. L. motare  to move about or shake, i.e. a little shaker or wagger), as ‘shake-tail’ (Ficedula).