AN EAGLE EYE. 25 
“Nay, if thou be that princely eagle’s bird, 
Show thy descent by gazing ’gainst the sun.” 
Flenry VI. Part III. Act ii. Se. 1. 
Again— 
“ What peremptory eagle-sighted eye 
Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, 
That is not blinded by her majesty?” 
Love's Labour’s Lost, Act iv. Se. 3. 
But in the same play and scene we are told— 
“A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind.” 
And in this respect Paris was said to excel :— 
“ An eagle, madam, / 
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye, 
As Paris hath.” 
Romeo and Fultet, Act iii. Se. 5. 
The supposition that the eye of the eagle is green 
must be regarded as a poetic license. In all the species 
of this genus with which we are acquainted, the colour of 
the iris is either hazel or yellow. But it would be absurd 
to look for exactness in trifles such as these. 
The power of flight in the eagle is no less surprising 
than his power of vision. Birds of this kind have been 
killed which measured seven or eight feet from tip to tip 
of wing, and were strong enough to carry off hares, lambs, 
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