On Seeing at a distance. 67 



possess a very sharp sight, in a greater distance than most qua- 

 drupeds. In C. A. Schmid's Blicken in den Haushalt der Na^ 

 tur (Halberstadt, 1826, p. 26 et seq.), there are many curious 

 observations illustrative of what we have just said. He says, 

 he threw at a considerable distance from a throstle or mavis 

 (Turdtis musicus) a few small beetles, of a pale grey colour, 

 which the unassisted human eye could not discover, yet the 

 throstle observed them immediately, and devoured them. The 

 long-tailed titmouse (Parus caudatics), flits with great quickness, 

 among the branches of trees, and finds on the very smooth bark 

 its particular food. When we examine the spots where it steps 

 for food, nothing is perceived by the naked eye, although mi- 

 nute insects are visible by means of the magnifying glass. A very 

 tame redbreast {Sylvia rubecula) discovered from the height of 

 the branch where it usually sat, at the distance of eighteen feet, 

 small crumbs of bread spread out on the ground, the instant 

 they were thrown down ; and this by bending its head to one 

 side, and therefore using only one eye. A quail, at the same 

 distance, discovered, by the use of only one eye, some poppy- 

 seeds. 



On the supposed Petrifying Quality of the Irawadi. By Pro- 

 fessor BucKLAND. In a Letter to the Editor. 



My Dear Sir, 

 In the last number of your Journal (September 1828), there 

 appears an extract from Lieutenant Alexander's Travels in the 

 Burman Empire (London, 1827), stating, that, during the late 

 military operations at Prome, the pioneers were ordered to 

 remove a house; and, upon endeavouring to cut down the mas- 

 sive teak pillars on which it was raised, they found that the 

 edges of their hatchets were all turned. On examining into the 

 cause of this, they found that the pillars were petrified through- 

 out, though the house had only been built ten years, and the 

 pillars were under water three months in the year during the 

 monsoon. — Page 34. 



This statement is so much at variance with the geological 

 observations made by Mr Crawford and Dr Wallich, during 



