226 FACULTLES OF BIRDS. 



as an arrow from heaven he descends, the roar of 

 his wings reaching the ear as he disappears in he 

 deep."* M. Vaillant again says of his vociferous 

 eagle (Halia'etus vocifer, SAVIGNY), that, "like the 

 ospray and the white-tailed eagle (Halia'etus albi- 

 cilla, SA.VIGNY), it dives rapidly from a great height 

 in the air upon a fish which it descries. "f We have 

 ourselves more than once seen the osprey dash 

 down from a height of two or three hundred feet 

 upon a fish of no considerable size, and which a 

 man could with difficulty have perceived at the same 

 distance. | 



Ross, in his voyage to Baffin's Bay, proved that 

 a man under favourable circumstances could see 

 over the surface of the ocean to the extent of one 

 hundred and fifty English miles. It is not proba- 

 ble that any animal exceeds this power of vision, 

 though birds perhaps excel men and most quadru- 

 peds in sharpness of sight. M. Schmidt threw, at 

 a considerable distance from a thrush (Turdus mu- 

 sicus), a few small beetles, of a pale gray colour, 

 which the unassisted human eye could not discover, 

 yet the thrush observed them immediately and de- 

 voured them. The bottletit (Parus caudatus) flits 

 with great quickness among the branches of trees, 

 and finds on the very smooth bark its particular 

 food, where nothing is perceptible to the naked eye, 

 though insects can be detected there by the micro- 

 scope. A very tame redbreast (Rhondella rubecula) 

 discovered crumbs from the height of the branch 

 where it usually sat, at the distance of eighteen 

 feet from the ground, the instant they were thrown 

 down, and this by bending its head to one side, and 

 using, of course, only one eye. At the same dis- 

 tance a quail (Coturnix major, BRISSON) discovered, 

 with one eye, some poppy-seeds, which are very 

 small and inconspicuous. 



* American Ornith., v. f Oiseaux d'Afrique, i., 18. 



J J. Rennie. 



