aH pase BOON CBiUvE. D bal-I'N 11 
The Bald Eagle—Our National Bird 
By C. O. DECKER 
MAN FOR AGES has considered the eagle the “king of birds’ and in 
recognition of its grace and strength in flight taken it as a symbol of 
majesty and power. Excavations on the site of an ancient city dating 
more than 4000 years before the Christian era have recovered tablets and 
seals which bear the engraved picture of an eagle. It is shown in much 
the same conventionalized form as we use today, that is, ‘displayed’, or 
facing us with wings and legs spread and its head turned in profile. 
Somewhere in those days a people found themselves defending their 
borders against enemies from two sides and conceived the idea that the 
eagle, its emblem, must be on guard in two directions at the same time. 
From this was derived the double-headed eagle, which at their greatest 
periods was included in the standards of Imperial Russia, Austria and 
Prussia. 
To the early Greeks the eagle was the messenger of Zeus. The Romans 
adopted the eagle officially in 87 B.C. and it was placed on the military 
standards borne at the head of all the legions of its army. Imperial Rome 
retained it, and the “eagles of Rome” came to be a common figure of 
speech to express her military prowess. 
During our Civil War a regiment of Wisconsin troops carried a live 
eagle at its head as its regimental standard. Soaring and screaming high 
above the battle, “Old Abe”, as it came to be called, was an inspiration 
and symbol of victory to the whole army. 
The Great Seal of the United States of America was adopted June 
20, 1782, and the bald eagle represented thereon became our ‘National 
Bird”. In its right claw it holds a spray of ripe olives as an emblem of a 
peaceful disposition, while in the left is a cluster of arrows in place of the 
ancient Greek thunderbolts—an indication of resolution to enforce peace. 
That the bald eagle did not receive universal approval is shown by 
the statement of Benjamin Franklin that it was a bird of “low moral 
character”. In that comment he ignored one important fact. Of all 
creatures, man is the only one that has developed a moral sense. To all 
others might makes right, and we are now fighting a world war to prove, 
among other things, that man has advanced beyond that stage. There is 
no breach of the code of all Nature, man excepted, when the bald eagle 
takes what he wants wherever or from whatever source he can get it. 
Nor is he alone among birds in this. Skuas and jaegers are notorious for 
their practice of despoiling gulls and terns of their catch. The booby of 
the Pacific coast is a constant victim. Alfred M. Bailey has estimated 
that three-fourths of the fish taken by the booby are forfeited to the 
larger and stronger man-o’-war bird. 
The bald eagle is a large and powerful bird, easily recognized by the 
pure white head, neck and tail, which are in sharp contrast with a dusky 
brown body. When perching the white head will attract attention when 
the bird might not otherwise be noticed. In flight the head and tail 
