88 THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



which some village fair one had haply been despoiled, a 

 tailor's thimble, two metal buttons, a small plated buckle, 

 and three or four bits of broken crockery." At the same 

 time he exculpates the Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), for 

 want of proof, of a similar charge made against him. 



"At country churches," he says, "where it frequents the 

 steeple, a situation to which it is very partial, we have 

 heard it accused of a very profane theft. At those places 

 in the North a collection is made in a salver outside the 

 door, and if a sixpence or a shilling finds its way among 

 the copper donations, the jackdaw is accused of pouncing 

 down and purloining it; but there is no proof against it." 



"The Divers (Colymbi)oi Louisiana," says M. Dupratz, 

 "when they see the fire of the touch-pan, dive so nimbly 

 that the lead cannot hit them, for which reason they are 

 called lead-eaters." 



Observers repeatedly see the same quickness of eye 

 exemplified in the Cormorant (Carbo cormoranus) of our 

 own seas; for, though approached with the greatest 

 caution, and when the bird has not manifested any fear, 

 but was skimming about on the water, the instant the 

 powder flashed in the pan it would dive down and escape 

 the danger. 



It may be worth mentioning that animals born with 

 perfect eyes can use them the instant they enter the world. 

 Sir James Hall, when making experiments on hatching, 

 observed a chicken in the act of breaking through the shell, 

 and, just as it got out, a spider began to run along the 

 box, when the chicken darted forward, seized, and 

 swallowed it as adroitly as if it had been instructed by 

 its mother. 



