146 
THE WILSON BULLETIN— September, 1922 
part of a bird’s face. Like a glowing gem of salmon pink, set 
in a soft gray or deep black velvet matrix, its white encircled 
pnpil gives a startlingly snakelike look, even in a dead speci- 
men. A burnished gold edging about the pupil of the Razor- 
billed Auk gives the same effect and the pupil of this bird’s eye 
is delicately fringed in a manner I believe unique. The Road- 
runner adult is another species with a serpent-like face, due to 
the fact that the pupil of the eyes is ringed witli a light circle, 
in addition to the dark colored iris. 
Those who know the small birds intimately will agree that 
various feelings are expressed in the face; that there is a cogni- 
zable difference between the contented, the angry, the sick, and 
the terrorized individual. Whether any other moods, such as 
jealousy, laughter, or an appreciation of humor, and “ vamp- 
ing,” may be thus indicated by the facial expression is highly 
doubtful, and of course implies a considerable range of intel- 
ligence for the bird. The feathers of the terrorized bird are 
usually pressed close to the body, and the feathers of the head 
and neck and legs are so tightly drawn in that the anatomy is 
plainly visible — where in the same bird in a contented condi- 
tion a rounded contour would be evident. Fear is often indi- 
cated by parting of the bill, and of course very rapid breathing. 
Every collector knows that a bird just shot, and picked up in 
all its fresh beauty from the ground possesses a wonderfully 
sweet facial expression, one rarely if ever seen in the living- 
bird. This may be due partly to the closing lids, but it is 
caused more, possibly, by the delicate lifting of all the feathers, 
and the fact that the eye has lost all focal powers. How many 
times must the collector think, even if he does not speak, his 
thoughts: “What a beautiful face this little bird has.” 
To watch a caged canary for a short time reveals the fact 
that it directs its eyes either forward, up, or down, at will, 
much as we do; this muscular action is the property of many 
species, to a greater or less degree, but in the Owls and Hawks 
is slight and scarcely noticeable. It means, therefore, that the 
Owl, to follow an object, must turn its head, and not only its 
eyes, — whereas, other forms may look forward or to the side 
with equal ease. Thus may the artist depict a small Passerine 
form with bill pointed directly at the observer, and the eyes 
also, whereas, if the Owl’s profile be given the focus of the eyes 
of the bird must be in the same direction as that of the bill. 
The presence or absence of eyelashes affects the facial ex- 
