26 POWER OF FLIGHT. 



and even young children. This strength of wing is not 

 unnoticed by Shakespeare : — 



" This was but as a fly by an eagle." 



Antony and Cleopatra, Act ii. Sc. 2. 



And— 



" An eagle- flight, bold, and forth on, 

 Leaving no track behind." 



Timon of Athens, Act i. Sc. i. 



This last line recalls to mind the following allusion to 

 the flight of the Jerfalcon : — " Then prone she dashes 

 with so much velocity, that the impression of her path 

 remains on the eye, in the same manner as that of the 

 shooting meteor or flashing lightning, and you fancy that 

 there is a torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through 

 the air." * 



Spenser, in the fifth book of his " Faerie Queene " 

 (iv. 42), has depicted the grandeur of an eagle on the 

 wing : — 



" Like to an eagle in his kingly pride 

 Soring thro' his wide empire of the aire 

 To weather his brode sailes.'' 



But notwithstanding his great powers of flight, we are 

 reminded that the eagle is not always secure. Guns, 

 traps, and other engines of destruction are directed against 

 him, whenever and wheresoever opportunity occurs : — 



* Mudie, " Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," i. p. 82. 



