VISION. 27 



buckle, and three or four bits of broken crockery*." At 

 the same time he exculpates the jackdaw (Corvus mo- 

 nedula), 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 pur- 

 loining it, but we have no proof against it f." 



The Bengal sparrow (Passer Bengalensis, KLEIN) 

 seems to be equally fond of bright objects. We have 

 elsewhere detailed its habit of studding its nest with 

 fire-flies J ; and it is no doubt on the same principle 

 that it is taught to perform certain feats. If a ring, 

 for example, be dropped into a deep well, and a signal 

 given to one of these birds, he will fly down with 

 amazing celerity, catch the ring before it touches the 

 water, and bring it to his master. Sir William Jones 

 tells us that these birds are also, by way of frolic, 

 taught to pluck off the gold ornaments from the head- 

 dresses of ladies and bring them to their lovers. 



The celerity of the Bengal sparrow in catching the 

 ring evidently depends as much upon quickness of 

 vision as on rapidity of flight ; arid to this quickness 

 we must attribute the difficulty often experienced by 

 marksmen in shooting at certain species. " The 

 divers (Colymbi) of Louisiana," says M. Dupratz, 

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

 nimbly that the lead cannot hit them, for which rea- 

 son they are called lead-eaters ." We have repeatedly 

 seen the same quickness of eye exemplified in the 

 cormorant (Carbo cormoranus, MEYER) of our own 



* Brit. Naturalist, p. 216. 



f Ibid. p. 229. I Architecture of Birds, p. 249-50. 



Hist, de U Louisiaue, ii. 115. 



D 3 



