Charles Ellicott Commentary Daniel 7:6

"After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it." — Daniel 7:6 (ASV)

A leopard. —More correctly, a panther. On the great vigilance and swiftness of the panther, compare Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7; Habakkuk 1:8. The third beast corresponds to the copper belly and thighs of the image (Daniel 2:0).

It should be noticed that as unity characterizes the first beast, and duality the second, so quadruplicity marks the third. It has four wings—wings as of a bird, not of an eagle—by which a degree of swiftness is implied inferior to that of the first beast. It has four heads, indicating four kingdoms, into which the third kingdom would develop itself. (Compare Daniel 8:8, where the same predominance of the number “four” can be observed.)