What animal most commonly appears on national flags?
Islamic flags as "the Eagle". Religious flags with inscriptions were in use in the medieval period, as shown in miniatures by 13th-century illustrator Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti. 14th-century illustrations of the "History of the Tatars" by Hayton of Corycus (1243) shows both Mongols and Seljuqs using a variety of war ensigns. The crescent appears in flags attributed to Tunis from as early as the 14th century "Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms", long before Tunis fell under Ottoman rule in 1574. The Spanish Navy Museum in Madrid shows two Ottoman naval flags dated 1613; both are swallow-tailed, one green with a white
French colonial flags French colonial flags Some of the colonies, protectorates and mandates of the French Colonial Empire used distinctive colonial flags. These most commonly had a French Tricolour in the canton. As well as the flags of individual colonies, the governors-general of French colonies flew a square flag with a blue field and the French ensign in the canton. This flag was flown beneath the national ensign. Colonial governors used a rectangular swallow-tailed version of this flag. The flags with the French flag in the canton, which on many occasions were already existing flags without the tricolour, resembled the British colonial flags,