What kind of bird is on older Polish flags?

It's the White Eagle of Poland. According to legend, Lech, Czech and Rus were three brothers, each of whom set off in a different direction. Czech founded the Czech nation, Rus the Russians (i.e. East Slavs) and Lech the Poles. He camped in a spot where he saw a white eagle nesting at dusk in a nest in a tree against the red sunset. Thus, the Polish white eagle on a red field. This info is from the "Flags of the World" website ( <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4eoqh" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://tinyurl.com/4eoqh</a> ) where you can also see pictures of historic flags. Also see this Wikipedia article ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_Arms_of_Poland" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_Arms_of_Poland</a> ).  more