150 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



sculpture, painting, or stained glass St. John appears he 

 may be recognized by his eagle; and sometimes the bird 

 is rather more conspicuous than the saint, as when it is 

 bearing him aloft on its back, both gazing, open-eyed and 

 resolute, at the sun, as the eagle is fabled to be able to 

 do. This association also accounts for the practice of 

 carving the support of the reading-desk in both Catholic 

 and Anglican churches in the form of an eagle with 

 outstretched wings. At the beginning, we are told, 

 figures of all four evangelists upheld the lectern; but 

 one by one the others disappeared before the demands of 

 artistic grace until at last John, "the beloved disciple," 

 alone remained, and presently he came to be represented 

 only by his emblem. "Medieval writers," remarks B. L. 

 Gales, in an article in The National Review (1808), "de- 

 light in all sorts of wild and wonderful tales about his," 

 that is, the eagle's "renewing his youth by gazing at the 

 sun or plunging into a clear stream, and allegorize at 

 length on the Waters of Baptism and the true Sun — 

 Jesus Christ." This, of course, is simply a comparatively 

 modern illustration of the very ancient myth that when 

 the sun set in the western ocean, yet arose bright and hot 

 next morning, it had rejuvenated itself by its bath as it 

 passed from west to east underneath the world. 



In the East, where the sport of falconry originated, and 

 where the Mongols trained and employed, and still do, 

 eagles as well as hawks, the falcon has acquired much 

 interesting symbolism, especially in Japan, as appears in 

 many exquisite drawings by early artists ; and often these 

 can be fully understood and enjoyed by us of the West 

 only when the subtle meaning involved in the picture is 

 interpreted to us, or we learn the tradition to which it 

 refers. For example, in Hokusai's drawing San Pitku 



