Men Hunting Bulls with Eagles

Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, Flemish, 1523–1605 · ca. 1600

In a landscape of rolling terrain, men use birds to hunt wild bulls. Trees frame the composition at left and right, and the hunters appear on horseback in the background at right. Two bulls have fallen in the foreground, while others gallop through the center of the image. The birds—traditionally identified as falcons, although possibly eagles—alight on the heads of their prey, likely blinding them. This hunting method is probably described in an as yet unidentified ancient text.