The Zoologist— October, 1866, 395 



the attendant bird of the " King of gods and men," and is generally 

 represented as standing at the foot of his throne, or sometimes as the 

 bearer of his thunder and lightning. Indeed he also often appears 

 perched on the top of his sceptre. He is always considered as the 

 attribute or emblem of ' father Jove '." 



A good copy of this bird of Jupiter, called by Virgil and Ovid 

 * Jovis armiger,' from an antique group, representing the eagle and 

 Ganyraedes, may be seen in Bell's ' Pantheon,' Vol. i. Also " a 

 small bronze eagle, the ensign of a Roman legion," is given in 

 Duppa's Travels in Sicily &c. (2nd ed. 1829, tab. iv.) That traveller 

 states that the original bronze figure is preserved in the Museum of 

 the Convent of St. Nicholas (d'Arcun) at Catania. This convent is 

 now called Convento di S. Benedetto, according to Mr. G. Dennis, in 

 his Handbook of Sicily, pnbUshed by Murray : at p. 349, he thus 

 mentions this ensign as "a Roman legionary eagle in excellent 

 preservation," 



From the second century before Christ the eagle is said to have 

 become the sole military ensign, and it was mostly small in size, 

 because Florus (lib. 4, cap, 12) relates that an ensign-bearer in the 

 wars of Julius Csesar, in order to prevent the enemy from taking it, 

 pulled off the eagle from the top of the gilt pole, and hid it by placing 

 it under cover of his belt. 



In later times the eagle was borne with the legion, which indeed 

 occasionally took its name 'aquila'. 



This eagle which was also adopted by the Roman Emperors, for 

 their imperial symbol, is considered to be the Aqtiila heliaca of 

 Savigny, which greatly resembles our golden eagle [Aquila chrysaetos), 

 in plumage, though of a darker brown. It inhabits North Africa and 

 Palestine, and is but rarely found in Europe. A living specimen 

 may now be seen in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. 



In Act V. Scene 4, of the last mentioned Play, Sicilius, speaking of 

 the apparition and descent of Jupiter, who was seated on an eagle, 



says: 



" * * * the holy eagle 

 Stoop'd as to foot us ; his ascension is 

 More sweet than our bless'd fields : his royal bird 

 Prunes the immortal wing and cloys his beak 

 As when his god is pleas'd." 



Prune signifies to clean and adjust the feathers, and is synonymous 

 with plume. The word more generally used, however, is preen. 



