EAGLE-EYED

In attempting to attribute a deeper meaning to Mark Catesby’s illustration of a bald eagle and a hawk, Suzanne Muchnic has gifted the British illustrator with a level of precognition not granted to most mortals (“Painting in a New World,” May 4).

For how else could Catesby have known that the bald eagle would become our republic’s national symbol some 33 years after his death? Thank goodness for Catesby that Ben Franklin’s suggestion that the wild turkey be adopted as the national symbol was not passed.

SCOTT FERGUSON

Newhall