162 FOREST CREATURES. 



seer, whose mental gaze penetrates the future^, beholding 

 what is hidden from common men, so does he seem to 

 possess an eye with keenest potency of vision, far sur- 

 passing the range of all other earth-born creatures. 



No wonder that, of old, men made him the companion 

 of the god who reigned supreme on high : who sat 

 enthroned on cloud, and at whose feet rolled the 

 thunder. It is surprising that they did not proclaim 

 himself to be a god : so olympian is his power, so 

 searching his vision, so god-like the daring boldness of 

 his sunward flight. What a blast is caused by the 

 swinging of those pinions as he sweeps down and passes 

 over you while striding along upon the mountain-top ! 

 And how majestically he rises, higher and always higher, 

 pausing only in his ascent when he has reached a height 

 which makes him appear like a speck on the drifting 

 cloud ! That region seems to be his home. 



The Golden Eagle has frequently been seen soaring 

 above the summit of the Wetterhorn and the Eigers : 

 mountains whose heights are 11,412 feet and 12,240 feet 

 respectively. Indeed, chamois hunters of the Berner 

 Oberland affirm that the eagle flies even higher than 

 the golden vulture, whose power of flight has always 

 been considered as inferior only to that of the condor. 



When we consider the weight which, in addition to 

 his own body, the wings of the eagle are sometimes 

 called upon to bear, what a notion is afforded us of his 



