AQUILA CHRYSAETUS. 69 



greeting — a sound but too well known to the watchful shepherd 

 below. They alighted simultaneously on the rocky ledge of 

 their abode — the eaglets taking up the well-known chorus, 

 clamouring for food. The female, first tearing off a portion of 

 the wool and skin with her scissor-like beak, fed them piece- 

 meal, while her mate was coolly but as savagely tearing off the 

 head and feathers and digging into the tempting flesh of the 

 ptarmigan. After gorging themselves and their young, the same 

 plundering expedition was again gone through — their one sole 

 end and aim, to live — fulfilling Nature's law, until perhaps the 

 hidden stamp, or baited trap, or leaden messenger of death — on 

 the same inexorable principle, the strong against the weak — 

 puts an end to their rapacity. Otherwise the golden eagle 

 is said to live to a great age, even to a hundred years. The 

 ancient Eomans used to let an eagle fly from the funeral pyre 

 of a deceased Emperor. Dryden alludes to this custom in his 

 stanzas on Oliver Cromwell after his funeral : — 



" Officious haste 

 Did let too soon the sacred eagle fly." 



In Heraldry, the eagle signifies fortitude ; and for several 

 centuries it has been a favourite device on Royal banners. It 

 was the ensign of the ancient Kings of Babylon and Persia. 

 The Romans adopted it and other devices ; but Marius made it 

 the ensign of the Legion, and used the other devices for the 

 cohorts. France under the Empire had the eagle for its 

 national device. The two-headed eagle, as a device, was first 

 used by Constantine the Great, and signifies a double Empire, 

 hence Constantinople. There is a very ancient superstition 

 that every ten years the eagle soars into a " fiery region," and 

 plunges thence into the sea, where, moulting its feathers, it 

 acquires new life, like the phoenix from the fire. Spenser 

 alludes to this in " The Faerie Queen" : — 



" As eagle fresh out of the ocean wave, 

 Where he hath left his plumes all hoary grey, 

 And decks himself with feathers youthful gay." 



We also read in the Psalms, " Thy youth is renewed like the 

 eagle's." The eagle is the supporter of the lectern in churches, 

 because it is the natural enemy of the serpent — that fabulous 

 author of sin ; and it is also emblematic of St John, because, 

 like the eagle, he looked on " The Son of Glory." But ancient 

 superstition fancied anything, no matter how supernatural. 

 And doubtless " Holy Russia," with her two-headed eagle, 



