SHARP EYES 45 



and sees in every object its essential character. This 

 is just as necessary to the naturalist as to the artist 

 or the poet. The sharp eye notes specific points and 

 differences, it seizes upon and preserves the indi- 

 viduality of the thing. 



Persons frequently describe to me some bird they 

 have seen or heard, and ask me to name it, but in 

 most cases the bird might be any one of a dozen, or 

 else it is totally unlike any bird found on this conti- 

 nent. They have either seen falsely or else vaguely. 

 Not so the farm youth who wrote me one winter 

 day that he had seen a single pair of strange birds, 

 which he describes as follows: "They were about 

 the size of the * chippie ; ' the tops of their heads 

 were red, and the breast of the male was of the same 

 color, while that of the female was much lighter; 

 their rumps were also faintly tinged with red. If I 

 have described them so that you would know them, 

 please write me their names." There can be little 

 doubt but the young observer had seen a pair of red- 

 polls, a bird related to the goldfinch, and that 

 occasionally comes down to us in the winter from 

 the far north. Another time, the same youth wrote 

 that he had seen a strange bird, the color of a spar- 

 row, that alighted on fences and buildings as well as 

 upon the ground, and that walked. This last fact 

 showed the youth's discriminating eye and settled 

 the case. From this and the season, and the size 

 and color of the bird, I knew he had seen the pipit 

 or titlark. But how many persons would have 

 observed that the bird walked instead of hopped ? 



