[CHAPTER II.]
THE HAWK, THE EAGLE, THE VULTURE, THE PHŒNIX, THE HARPY, THE STRIX, THE BAT, THE GRIFFON, AND THE SIREN.
SUMMARY.
The bird of prey the most heroic of birds.—Indras as a hawk.—The hawk and the ambrosia; the ambrosia as sperm.—The bird of prey and the serpent.—Agnis, the Açvinâu, and the Marutas as hawks.—The place of sacrifice has the form of an eagle.—The two sons of Vinaṭâ.—Garuḍas, the bird of Vishṇus; he fights against the monsters.—Genealogy of the vultures.—Ǵâtâyus and Sampatis.—The king or the young hero who offers himself up to be devoured by the hawk or the eagle.—The grateful hawk or eagle.—Çyena and Çaena; Simurg; the feather of the bird of prey.—The birds as clouds.—The eagles as winds; Aquila and Aquilo.—The hawks as luminous birds; the eagles as demoniacal ones.—Accipiter.—The hawk as an emblem of nobility.—The hawk as the ensign of Attila.—The hawk in Hellenic antiquity.—The kite among the stars; it discharges its body upon the image of the god.—The beetle, the eagle, and Zeus.—The eagle as the thunderbolt or sceptre of Zeus.—The eagle presages supreme power and fertility; the eagle and the laurel.—The eagle carries off the robes of Aphroditê.—The eagle takes away the slippers of Rhodopê.—The eagle kills Æschilos.—Nisos and Scylla.—The vulture in ancient classical authors.—The vultures in hell.—The learned vulture.—Voracity of the vulture.—Imaginary birds.—The sun as a phoenix.—The demoniacal harpies or Furiæ, canes Jovis.—Strix and striges; they suck blood.—Proca and Crane.—Bats and vampires.—The Stymphalian birds.—The birds of Seleucia.—The Gryphes and the Arimaspi.—The griffons sacred to Nemesis; the hypogriff, gryphos, logogriph, griffonage.—The Siren now as a bird, now as a fish.—Circe; a lunar myth.
The most heroic of birds is the bird of prey; the strength of its beak, wings, and claws, its size and swiftness, caused it to be regarded as a swift celestial messenger, carrier, and warrior.
The hawk, the eagle, and the vulture, three powerful birds of prey, generally play the same part in myths and legends; the creators of myths having from the first observed their general resemblance, without paying any regard to their specific differences.
The bird of prey, in mythology, is the sun, which now shines in its splendour, and now shows itself in the cloud or darkness by sending forth flashes of lightning, thunderbolts, and sunbeams. The flash, the thunderbolt, and the sunbeam are now the beak, now the claw of the bird of prey, and now, the part being sometimes taken for the whole, even the entire bird.