fish ; both pursue the catta (pterocles), partridge, and lizard. The osprey alone being migratory, retires to Southern Arabia in winter. None, excepting the last mentioned, are so exclusively averse to carrion as is commonly asserted : from choice or necessity they all, but in particular the sea-eagles, occasionallj' feed upon carcases of horses, etc. ; and it is well known in the East that they follow armies for that purpose. Hence the allusions in Job and Matt, xxiv, 28, though vul- tures may be included, are perfectly correct. So again are those which refer to the eagle's ej'rie, fixed in the most elevated clift's. The swiftness of this bird, stoop- ing among a flock of wild geese with the rushing sound of a wliirlwind, is very remarkable; and all know its towering flight, suspended on its broad M-ings among the clouds with little motion or eft'ort. Thus the pre- dictions, in wliich terrible nations coming from afar are assimilated to eagles, have a poetical and aljsolute truth, since there are species, like the golden, wliich reall}' inhabit the whole circumference of the earth, and the nations alluded to bore eagles' wings for stand- ards, and for ornaments on their shields, helmets, and shoulders. In the northern half of Asia, and among all the Turkish races, this practice is not entirely aban- doned at this da}', and eagle ensigns were constantly the companions of the dragons. China, India, Bactria, Persia, Egypt, the successors of Alexandria, the Etrus- cans, the Konians, the Celtre, and the Arabs had eagle signa of carved work, of metal, or the skins of birds stuft'ed, and set up as if they were living. These, named l2^5 (".y*'i ^ "ravenous bird," Isa. xlvi, 1, whence atroc), aquila, eryx, simurrj, humma or liumai- on, Icarahush (tiie birds of victory of dift'erent na- tions and periods of antiquity), were always symboli- cal of rapid, irresistible conquest. A black eagle was the ensign of Kalid, general of Mohammed, at the bat- tle of Aisnadin, and the carved eagle still seen on the walls of the citadel of Cairo, set up by Karakusli, the vizier of Salah-ed-din, to commemorate his own name and administration, indicates a species not here enu- marated. At least four distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, viz. the golden eagle (^Aquila Chrysaetos), the spotted eagle (.1. nmriii), the common species in the rocky districts (see Ibis, i, 23), the imperial eagle (^Aquila Ilehaca'), and the very com- mon Ch'cretos gal/icus, which preys on the numerous repfilia of Palestine (see the vernacular Aral)ic names of diflferent species of Yulturida; and Palconidre in Loche's Catalogue des Oiseaux observ. en Alguiv ; and
Impeiial Eagle (Aqutln Ileliaca).
in Ibist, vols, i, ii, Tristram's papers on the ornithology of North Africa). The Heb. neslier maj' stand for any of these dift'erent species, though perhaps more partic-
EAGLE
iilr.r reforcncG to the golden and imperial eagles and the grilibn vulture may be intended. The Aq. heliuca, Iierc ligured, is the species most common in Syria, and is distinguished from the others by a s[)ot of white feathers on each shoulder. (See the Penny Cyc/opcedia, s. V. Falconidfc ; llebenstreit, Aqidke nutura e S.S. historia, e historia nattirali ct e Monumenit. vett. iilus- trata, Lips. 1747.) See Biud.
EAGLE, in the Church of England, the desk or lec- turn from which the lessons are read is often in the form of an eagle with outspread wings. The usage is probaljl}' derived from the fact that, in ecclesiastical symbolism, the eagle is the accompanying sjnnbol of the apostle John (see Jamieson, Sacred and Legendary Art, i, 137).
E'iines (Arca');(-,Vulg. Esse^, Syr. Mani), a name given (1 Esdr. ix, il) as that of a third son of Emmer (Imnier) ; apparently in place of Harim, and his first two sons Maaseiah and Elijah of the Hel). list (Ezra x, 21). Fritzsche suggests {Exeg. Ilandb. in loc.) that Kcd 'Sluvi]Q is a mistranslation of the ■'52'21, "and of the sons of," of the Heb. text, the three names follow- ing having been omitted by the Greek translator.
Ear (properly 'ifX, o'sfw, ovi;), the organ of hear- ing. In Scripture the term is frec^uently employed figuratively. To signify the regard of Jehovah to the prayers of his people, the Psalmist saj's, " His ears are open to their cry" (Psalm xxxiv, 15). To '■uncov- er the ear" is a Helu-aism, and signifies to show or reveal something to a person (1 Sam. xx, 2). The Psalmist, speaking in the person of the Jlessiah, says, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened" (Psa. xl, G). Ainsworth reads, " Mine eai*s hast thou digged open." The Sept., which Paul follows (Hel). x, 5), reads the passage thus : "A body hast thou prepared me." " M;ike the ears of this people heavy," occurs in Isaiah vi, 10, that is. render their minds inattentive and disobedient: with a similar meaning, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of '•ears uncircumcised" (vi,10). Among the Jews, the slave who renounced the privilege of being made free from servitude in the sabbatical year submitted to have his ear bored through with an awl, which was done in the presence of some judge or magistrate, that it might appear a voluntary act. The ceremony took ]ilace at his master's door, and was the mark of per- petual servitude (Exod. xxi, G). See Eak-rixg.