THE BLACK EAGLE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 272, 4 May 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE BLACK EAGLE.

ITS OMINOUS FLITTING. A HOHENZOLLERN PORTENT. A simple fact that seems almost a phenomenon in its significance has startled Germany. To those superstitiously inclined it is an omen of the utmost portent, and even to those less credulous it is an augury that is net passed by with a word. It is tliis:The Prussian Black Eagle, from the first founding of the Prussian kingdom the symbol of power, has forsaken its haunts on the crags of tho Swabian Alps, where towers the cast].) of the Ilohenzollerns. Eor ten centuries these great black eagles have ma-do their homes on the gigantic cliffs of the lower Alps which shelter this cradle of Ilohenzollern royalty. This is the firs' year they have disappeared. The cam.) of their going is a mystery, but to tho peasants of the Black Forest and t.> many others it signifies tho passing; of the Ilohenzollerns, the hereditary Prussian kings. When the grim old Elector of Brandenburg was crowned King of Prussia in 1701 he founded the Military Ordef of the Black Eagle, and incorporated the king of birds into the imperial seal. Beneath it were the words "Suum C'uique"—"To each his own." Tho arrogance of the present emperor, rav the prophets, has not left "To each his own." Whether or not the "military necessity" of the claim is justifiable, the fact remains that Germany has overrun and ravaged Belgium. Rouinania, Servia, and Northern France. And the Prussian eagle had abandoned the splendid castle of Schwartz AdlerS Horsfc (literally the Aerie of the Black Eagle). With the passing of the black eaglo of German royalty, say the peasants, will come the surrender of the sceptrJ of Prussian power. These eagles have been protected from molestation by imperial decree feu' centuries. Edicts innumerable safeguarded their home and made them tlu most familiar things in the rugged and majestic vista outspread before the towers of the Hohenzollern castle, Tha sunset that bathed the tall turrets oi the ancient. Prussian pile saw the majestic birds wheeling overhead for tho final homing swoop to the nests of their young. Secure in their vast aeries, they multiplied until the great predatory bird was an integral part of the wild mountain scenery. This winter has witnessed the sudden exodus of the famous eagles. According to reports that have reached Switzerland, there is many a good German who believes that- Kaiser W ilheflm, Emperof of German and King of Prussia, having violated the terse legend of the insignia of the Imperial seal—"To each his own"—is bringing down about his head the wreck of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The end of his regime is written in blood, and the peasants believe that th.l prescient birds, knowing this, are leaving the cradle of their species and tho source of Prussian power. Where have they gone? It is hardly easier to answer this than to answer that other more insistent interrogatory "Why have they goner" Is the Ilohenzollern spirit indeed tho spirit of the black eagle? Is the affinity of method and purpose of tho dynasty and its emblems of power a) complete as would appear? Is it such a one that the disappearance of the black eagles from the castle of Hohenzollern may be considered as prophetic of tho downfall of the great genius of militarism?

The peasant of the Black Forest answers ''Yes."

The disappearance of the famed black eagles is all the more remarkable by leason of th.2 fact that migrations are almost unknown to the species. The birds will frequent the same nest on the same aerie year after year, the young when old enough selecting their own quarters half a dozen miles away. At all events, with the departure of the black eagles of the Hohenzollerns vanishes something of the historic atmosphere of the cradle of Prussian power.