The concept of the Golden Crow, the spirit of the sun, may well have arisen from the ancients 'observation of sunspots; its form as a bird, from the sun's daily "flight" across the sky from east to west. The Golden Crow is actually, in fact, black, as though charred by blazing fire, but, unlike other crows, it has three legs.
金烏作三足，是為了與普通的二足烏鴉區別；鳥的意象或是由太陽每日在空中自東至西「飛動」而來；金烏全身烏黑，則可能來自灼火燃燒物體後的聯想。