The decline in numbers of golden and white-tailed sea eagles in Britain and Ireland since the time of King Arthur has been mapped by the RSPB.
Researchers looked at places named after eagles in Gaelic and Old English to help estimate populations of the birds in AD500.
From the Dark Ages, they drew on historical material and studies to map pairs of the raptors to the present.
The RSPB said the maps painted "a sad picture of decline".
Published in Bird Study, the journal of the British Trust for Ornithology, the study suggests both species were once found across lowland and upland Britain and Ireland.
There were an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 pairs of golden eagles in AD500, when Arthur was said to have been a mythical king, or a real-life warlord.
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