2 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



now and again upon him when he was digging deep 

 for it, using the light of candles which he never brought 

 out of the pits, they foolishly imagined that by the 

 sight of his eyes he was first of all led to seek those 

 treasures, and hence the proverb ' more quick- sighted 

 than Lynceus,' and from these came the opinion of 

 the singular perspicacity in the lynx*." Observation 

 indeed proves that the sight of the lynx (Felis cer 

 varia, TEMMINCK, and F. Lynx, LINN.) is similar, 

 and little if at all superior, to that of the cat or the 

 tiger; and as it pursues its prey in the night, its eyes, 

 though in appearance " brilliant," as Buffon correctly 

 says, are ill fitted for vision except during twilight. 

 Cuvier, Temminck, Ranzanif, and other recent 

 writers take no notice whatever of the vision of the 

 lynx. 



The proverbial piercing sight of the eagle rests 

 upon very different evidence to that of the fables we 

 have just endeavoured to account for. Systematic 

 writers afford little information on the subject ; but we 

 have abundant proof of this intensity of vision from 

 other sources. We may, however, reasonably doubt 

 the fact of its fixing its gaze upon the sun, the "naked 

 sun" (il sol pur), as Petrarch gives it}, even though 

 the authority of Scaliger tells us that having " re- 

 peatedly placed an eagle in the sun, it gazed on its 

 rays for a long time intensely and pertinaciously ." 

 It does not appear what motive can induce the bird 

 to gaze on the sun, even if it have the power. Larks 

 indeed and some other small birds are attracted by 

 bright objects, as is proved by what bird-catchers call 

 daring, that is, fixing a piece of looking-glass on 

 a moveable pivot and whirling it round ; but in this 

 case it is probable the larks are allured by the principle 

 of curiosity so very lively in birds, as we have else- 



* Hist. Anim. Linx. f Elem. di Zoologia, ii. 309, 



J Sonet. 18, Exerc. 228, 



