A DETHRONED MONARCH 



THE eagle is a bird that deserves much sym- 

 pathy, for he has seen better times. Until 

 a few years ago the pride of place among 

 the fowls of the air was always given to 

 the eagle. " Which eagle ? " you ask. I reply, " The 

 eagle." The poets, who have ever been the bird's 

 trumpeters, know but one eagle upon which they lavish 

 such epithets as " the imperial bird," " the royal eagle," 

 " the monarch bird," " lord of land and sea," " the wide- 

 ruling eagle," " the prince of all the feathered kind," 

 " the king of birds," " the bird of heaven," " the Olympic 

 eagle," " the bold imperial bird of Jove," and so on, ad 

 nauseam. 



The eagle of the poets was truly regal. But some- 

 body discovered, one day, that this bird is, like the 

 phoenix, a mythical creature. Eagles do exist — many 

 species of them — but they are very ordinary creatures, 

 in no way answering to the description of the poet's 

 pet fowl. This, of course, is not the fault of the eagles. 

 They are not to blame because the bards have, with 

 one accord, combined to idealise them. Nevertheless, 

 men, now that they have found out the truth, seem to 

 bear a grudge against the eagle. They are not content 

 with dethroning him, they must needs throw mud at 

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