Whatever visual impact Altair and Aquila have on an observer facing north they are an imposing sight. In the south the eagle is in mid-plummet, and there is rapacity in its vision. The asterism which leaps to my eye is of a great bird the other way up, but a long-necked bird in uplift like a goose rather than a bird of prey. Aquila from the south looks all the world to me like a fern, the national symbol of the Kiwis, rugged adventurers who make uncomfortable enemies. All of those aspects are milling in the keyword ‘vision’.