594 EAPTOEES, OR BIRDS OF PREY. 



kingly rank we connect the ideas of courage and nobility, it would 

 never do to place the crown on tlie Eagle's head. 



The ancients were inspired with a juster sentiment in making 

 the Eagle the symbol of victory. The Assyrians, the Persians, 

 and the Homans placed an Eagle with outspread wings on the top 

 of their standards ; and even in modern times we find a repre- 

 sentation of this bird filling the same emblematic post in the 

 armies of several European nations. Some, as Austria, instead 

 of one Eagle, adopt two as their allusive emblazonry. 



In consequence of the Eagle mounting up to such prodigious 

 heights the ancients looked upon it as the bird of Jupiter and the 

 messenger of the gods. When Jove, after the withdrawal of 

 Hebe, came down to earth to seek for another cup-bearer, he 

 changed himself into an Eagle, and it was under this shape he 

 carried off Ganymede. 



But we must leave mythology and symbols, and turn our atten- 

 tion to a matter-of-fact description of the great bird of prey. 



In the Eagle the sense of vision is developed to its very highest 

 excellence. Contemplate him hovering majestically among the 

 clouds, and you will be struck with admiration. By an impercep- 

 tible motion of his wings he maintains this prodigious height 

 without fatigue. Perceiving a Hazel Hen on the heath below, he 

 folds his wings, and in a few seconds drops down to within a 

 short distance of the ground ; then, with his legs stifiened, he 

 swoops upon his prey, seizes his victim, and carries it away to 

 some adjacent mountain. 



The great strength of the muscles which work the wing of this 

 bird (Fig. 279) will explain the power and long duration of his 

 flight. 



The Eagle is endowed with such an enormous amount of 

 muscular force, that it contends successfully against the most 

 powerful winds. Raymond, the naturalist, who has been styled 

 " the painter of the Pyrenees," relates that, having reached the 

 summit of Mont Perdu, the loftiest peak of that range, he perceived 

 an Eagle pass over him at surprising speed, although it was 

 flying against a strong head-wind. 



If to the weight of the body of the Eagle we add that of the 

 victim which it clutches in its talons ; if we consider that this 



