OWLS 59 



alone among the feathered folk can truly be said to 

 possess faces. The position of a bird's eyes is not the 

 result of chance or accident. A creature whose eyes 

 are forwardly directed can see better ahead of him 

 than he could were they placed at the sides of the head, 

 but he cannot see what is going on behind his back. 

 Animals whose eyes are at the side of the head have a 

 much wider range of vision, for the areas covered by 

 their visual organs do not overlap. Such creatures 

 cannot set; quite so well things in front of them, but 

 can witness much of what is going on behind them. 

 They are therefore better protected from a rear attack 

 than they would be did their eyes face forwards. The 

 result of this is that, if we divide birds and beasts into 

 those which hunt and those which are hunted, we 

 notice that in the latter the tendency is for the eyes 

 to be placed at the sides of the head. They thereby 

 enjoy a wider range of vision, while in the former the 

 tendency is for the eyes to be so situated as to enable 

 them best to espy their quarry. Compare the position 

 of the eyes in the tiger and the ox, in the eagle and 

 the sparrow. The tiger and eagle have little fear of being 

 attacked, so have thrown caution to the winds and 

 concentrated their energies to equipping themselves 

 for attack. In owls the eyes are more forwardly 

 directed than in the diurnal birds of prey, because they 

 have to hunt their quarry under more difficult con- 

 ditions. Even when its ears inform the owl that there is 

 some creature near by, it requires the keenest eyesight 

 to detect what this is. The position of a bird's eyes 

 is determined by natural selection. With colour and 



