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WATCHING THE SKY. 



and we cannot speak positively upon this point. We 

 must however point out that persons not accustomed 

 to watch the sky overhead, might quite possibly be 

 on the ground and miss seeing flights passing at 

 great altitudes at all: unless a man looks up, it is 

 quite conceivable that many great companies of birds 

 might cross the zenith unnoticed. The importance 

 of this subject will we trust be sufficient to warrant 

 a short digression from our narration to enable as to 

 consider it. We have Mr. Darwin's authority for 

 stating that an ordinary observer in a level 

 country will seldom notice objects in the air 

 at a greater elevation than 15 degrees above 

 the horizon such for instance as vultures, which 

 were the objects of Mr. Darwin's remark when he 

 made this statement. * He therefore considers that a 

 vulture 3000 or 4000 feet overhead would not come 

 within the range of vision, unless he were more than 

 two miles off. In our own humble way, we have no 

 hesitation in supporting this assertion of Mr. Darwin's : 

 it has been constantly within our own experience 

 that we have had to point out things, in the higher 

 atmosphere, to persons who were not trained to observe 

 them, and who would never have seen them at all 

 if they had not been pointed out. A good instance 

 of this may be found in the way people let themselves 

 unintentionally be caught by showers, when it is quite 

 easy to obtain shelter in time to avoid them. We 

 well remember how on one occasion some years ago, 

 during a meet of coaches in Hyde Park, when a vast 



* Journal of Researches in Natural History and Geology during 

 the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1832 to 1836), by Chas. Darwin, I2th 

 thousand 1873, pp. 185 and 186. 



