SHARP EYES. 53 



its suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye 

 is hunting ! to pick out *the game from its surround- 

 ings, the grouse from the leaves, the gray squirrel 

 from the mossy oak limb it hugs so closely, the red 

 fox from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit 

 from the stubble, or the white hare from the snow, 

 requires the best powers of this sense. A woodchuck 

 motionless in the fields or upon a rock, looks very 

 much like a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye 

 knows the difference at a glance, a quarter of a mile 

 away. 



A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or 

 than any of the wild creatures, but not so sharp an ear 

 or nose. But in the birds he finds his match. How 

 quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere 

 speck against the sky, and how quickly the hawk 

 discovers you if you happen to be secreted in the 

 bushes, or behind the fence near which he alights. 

 One advantage the bird surely has, and that is. owing 

 to the form, structure, and position of the eye, it has 

 a much larger field of vision indeed, can probably 

 see in nearly every direction at the same instant, 

 behind as well as before. Man's field of vision em- 

 braces less than half a circle horizontally, and still 

 less vertically ; his brow and brain prevent him from 

 seeing within many degrees of the zenith without a 

 movement of the head ; the bird, on the other hand, 

 takes in nearly the whole sphere at a glance. 



I find I see, almost without effort, nearly every 

 bird within sight in the field or wood I pass through 



