134 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



from the river at dusk. They will pass right over 

 the head of a man walking or standing upright in 

 an open place, and not swerve unless he wave his 

 arms at them or shoot. Yet a minute or two earlier, 

 in the same state of light, these curlews were all- 

 wariness. I think they may not be quite so well 

 placed for seeing enemies and for guarding them- 

 selves when a- wing ; moreover, they are occupied 

 with the desire to fly to a certain spot, and this 

 may lessen their attention to enemies. 



There is a pleasure in watching, with the naked 

 eye, wild life at the estuary and up the sea creeks. 

 Glasses scarcely give such pleasure. The difference 

 between identifying by eyesight and by glass sight is 

 somewhat like the difference between hand-made and 

 machine-made. The pains taken, and through them 

 the triumph achieved, are so much more in the first 

 than the second. In the one you do the whole thing 

 yourself, in the other it is largely done for you. 



When the machine comes in, the eye and the hand 

 tend to lose or lessen their skill and independence. 

 They can be trained no longer to their highest powers 

 and finish. 



Thus it must be better to distinguish a distant bird 

 or beast, to pick out its colours and markings, and 

 discover what it is doing by the unaided eye. And 

 the eye in good training can do more than at first 

 seems possible. This fact is clear to us after looking 

 into a stream of quick running water, or into a quiet, 



