SHARP EYES. 17 



see the bird and shoot it before it takes wing. I 

 think he sees it as soon as it sees him, and before 

 it suspects itself seen. What a training to the eye 

 is hunting! To pick out the game from its surround- 

 ings, the grouse from the leaves, the gray squirrel from 

 the mossy oak limb it hugs so closely, the red fox 

 from the ruddy or brown or gray field, the rabbit from 

 fche stubble, or the white hare from the snow, requires 

 the best powers of this sense. A woodchu.-k, motion- 

 less in the fields or upon a rock, looks very much like 

 a large stone or bowlder, yet a keen eye knows the 

 difference at a glance, a quarter of a mile away. 



A man has a sharper eye than a dog, or a fox, or 

 than any of the wild creatures, but not so sharp an ear 

 or nose. But in the birds he finds his match. 1 low- 

 quickly the old turkey discovers the hawk, a mere 

 speck against the sky, and how quickly the hawk dis- 

 covers you if you happen to be secreted in the bushes, 

 or behind the fence near which he alights! One ad- 

 vantage the bird surely has, and that is, owing to the 

 form, structure, and position of the eye, it has a much 

 larger field of vision — indeed, can probably see in 

 nearly every direction at the same instant, behind as 

 well as before. Man's field of vision embraces less 

 than half a circle horizontal^, and still less vertically : 

 Ms brow and brain prevent him from seeing wi I 

 many degrees of the zenith without a movement of tin 

 head; the bird, on the other hand, takes in nearly thi 

 whole sphere at a glance. 



I find I see, almost without effort, nearly every bird 

 within sight in the field or wood I pass through (a llit 

 of the wing, a flirt of the tail are enough, though the 

 flickering leaves do all conspire to hide them ), and 

 tihat with like ease the birds see me, though, un- 



