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See More with Your Binoculars! 
By JOHN HELMER 
Do YOU ALWAYS wear glasses while looking through your binoculars on 
field trips? If you do, try taking your glasses off or resting them on top 
of the eyepieces as you look through them. Then compare the difference in 
field sizes by counting the pickets in a fence or the bricks in a wall. It is 
possible that you will be very agreeably surprised, as we were the first 
time we tried it. 
If your eyes are simply near-sighted or far-sighted, you are lucky, for 
you can remove your glasses and depend on the binoculars to compensate 
for the shortcomings in your vision while you use them, as well as to 
enlarge the image of the bird in your field of view. But binoculars can- 
not correct for astigmatism. In this case, the best solution is to wear 
glasses with light weight, fiexible frames so as to bring the eyepieces as 
close to the eyes as possible. This effect may be increaed by using binoculat's 
with shallow eyecaps rather than the regular eyecaps, which are designed 
for persons without glasses. Incidentally, the Bushnell binoculars sold by 
the Illinois Audubon Society can be ordered with the shallow eyecaps at no 
extra cost. The makers of Bushnell binoculars have prepared a free booklet 
which covers the problems of getting better service out of your binoculars; 
we can send the booklet to any member requesting it. 
Doffing your glasses not only gives you a wider field of view, but pro- 
vides a much brighter, clearer image. Merely getting the binoculars closer 
to your eyes helps to shut out the light rays striking in from all sides. 
Stray light bouncing off the lenses and frames of eyeglasses conflicts with 
the image brought in by the binoculars. 
Every bird-watcher knows that he should have the light at his back for 
best visibility. He stands in the shade whenever possible and avoids looking 
up against a bright sky. And so it doesn’t make much sense for him to go 
bareheaded — unless if he wants a handsome sun-tan where his hair has 
thinned out. He would do better to make his own shade with a wide-brimmed 
sombrero — or she with a sunbonnet. 
Try some of the above ideas on your next bird walk. If you wear glasses 
with heavy, plastic frames, the chances are that you will double the width 
of your field of view by removing those spectacles. When you double the 
width of an image, you see an area four times as large. Look into this 
matter the next time you use your binoculars, and let us know if you get 
results that are different. Good birding to you! 
847 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 
