In consequence of the Eagle mounting up to such prodigious heights the ancients looked upon it as the bird of Jupiter and the messenger of the gods. When Jove, after the withdrawal of Hebe, came down to earth to seek for another cup-bearer, he changed himself into an Eagle, and it was under this shape he carried off Ganymede.
But we must leave mythology and symbols, and turn our attention to a matter-of-fact description of the great bird of prey.
In the Eagle the sense of vision is developed to its very highest excellence. Contemplate him hovering majestically among the clouds, and you will be struck with admiration. By an imperceptible motion of his wings he maintains this prodigious height without fatigue. Perceiving a Hazel Hen on the heath below, he folds his wings, and in a few seconds drops down to within a short distance of the ground; then, with his legs stiffened, he swoops upon his prey, seizes his victim, and carries it away to some adjacent mountain.
The great strength of the muscles which work the wing of this bird ([Fig. 279]) will explain the power and long duration of his flight.
The Eagle is endowed with such an enormous amount of muscular force, that it contends successfully against the most powerful winds. Raymond, the naturalist, who has been styled "the painter of the Pyrenees," relates that, having reached the summit of Mont Perdu, the loftiest peak of that range, he perceived an Eagle pass over him at surprising speed, although it was flying against a strong head-wind.
If to the weight of the body of the Eagle we add that of the victim which it clutches in its talons; if we consider that this victim is often borne by it to considerable distances, and that the Eagle will thus cross the chain of the Alps; if we also reflect that the prey is not unfrequently a chamois or a sheep, we shall be enabled to form some idea of its strength and muscular power.
Fig. 279.—Wing of an Eagle.
The size of the Eagle varies according to the race, but all attain imposing dimensions. The female of the Golden Eagle measures three feet nine inches from the tip of the beak to the points of the feet, and the spread of its wings is nearly ten feet. In the Imperial Eagle the spread of the wings is only six feet, and in the Small Marine Eagle four feet four inches.
It has been stated that the Eagle can travel sixty-five feet in a second, which would give a speed of forty-four miles an hour; but Naumann positively contradicts this assertion, on the ground that the Eagle is incapable of overtaking a Pigeon. It is, at all events, a matter of certainty that the flight of this bird is very rapid. An Eagle has been noticed circling over a hare in a field, and hemming it in, so that the victim was unable to escape on either side, always finding its enemy in front.