Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-09-22
EYES like OPERA eIAssEs.
How the Negroes Capture Buzzards Alxv
in the Southern States.

EYES LIKE OPERA GLASSES.
How the Negroes Capture Buzzards Alive
I'm the Southern States.
That's buzzard-an ordinary Amer
lean buzzard," said taxide-mist to a
Tribune reporter, whose attention had
been attracted by a stuffed bird in the
window about the size OF an ordinary
hen turkey. They're common enough
IN the southern states, especially in
Florida, where I caught that one N.Y.
self one winter. / wanted to capture
one alive, and negro boy showed me
how to do It We took boards and
fenced in square of land about as big
as an ordinary dining-table We made
the fence about five feet high, and then
threw a pig which had died from the
disease into the center of the Enclosure.
After that we retired to the cover of
some bushes about fifty yards away and
began to scan the sky for our buzzard.
There was no buzzard in light, and
they are not very plentiful anyw ay, but
the darby assured me that one would
arrive before long. He said a buzzard
would smell u dead animal twenty miles
away told the boy that probably
did not know as much about catching
q DuZZarQ dilFe DIS lie O1u, i knew
that the bird did not smell carrion at
any great distance; he saw it., The boy
did not believe me when explained te
him the perfectly well-known fact that
the buzzard has an eye like an opera
glass. He can screw it in or out, so to
speak, and fit it to the distance arcoss
which he wa nts to look at any object.
That's handy sort of eye to have, isn't
it?
''The eyebal1 is surrounded by horny
plates which move slightly on each
other. The muscles at the back of the
eye are so arranged that they can thrust
the center of the ball of the eye out in
front, and the pressure OF these horny
plates keeps the whole eye from being
pushed out. also. Thus the eve assumes
a conelike app earance from the outside.
Bv relaxing this pressure and exerting
these muscles in the opposite direction,
the front of the eye can be made fat
By this means the buzzard can, while
flying at great height, sweep the
ground with his tel escopic eye in search
OF carrion, and as he approaches the
earth he can keep adjusting his sight so
that he sees the desired object plainly,
even when it is under his very beak.
However, as / said before, the negro
| boy stuck to his theory of smell.
"'De res one now he said, pointing
! up toward the sun. In vain / looked
and strained my eyes till they streamed
| with tears. I could see no buzzard.
| 'Dere he is, sure enough repeated the
darby. He's smelt de pork and he's
a-commin' fer it. By and by l was
able to discern black speck far up in
| the blue, which was describing great
sweeps and circles as it came slowl y
nearer, without making the least mo-
| ton of its feathers. 1t was fascinating
to watch that calm, confident, swift,
! silent motion, and I envied the creature
! his marvellous power and wanted to
exchange lives with him, till thought
| of the dinner of decayed pig. He lay
closer. and after he had thoroughly in
spected the country all about for enc
mics he Topped down on the pig and be-
| gan to tear it. He evidently had not
had a meal for a long time, for he SIM
ply gorged himself, as we hoped he
would do.
Now, when buzzard is gorged he
J cannot rise straight up in the air, he
has got to make a run for it and rise up
an imaginary inclined plane, like fat
| goose rising from the water. We knew
this and had provided for the conven-
fence of the greedy bird nice little
low doorway, cut in the boards on the
| ground floor, and about two feet high.
! About this door, on the outside, we had
arranged a neat moose Of oiled fishline
ready for the head of the bird if he
poked it out. When he had eaten all
he wanted he looked up into the air
and seeing the fence unconfortably
| high aud close around him, decided to
walk out of the door and make his rise
| where there was plenty of space for a
preliminary run. As he poked his head
out of the hole the moose fitted him
| nicely. He did not notice it and walked
on. In about three steps he came to
F! the end of the fshline and the moose
/ frightened.
with hoarse cry of fright he made
a dash for liberty with legs and wings,
but the moose choked him and Topped
him over on his back, where he lay
kicking like mad. We rushed up and
threw a big fish net over him, as his
| powerful claws and beak were dan
! gerous weapons, and would inlet an
ugly cut. Moreover, as the bird lives
I on carrion, wound from him often
produces blood poisoning. L kept him
about my camp for a time, but he was
! not a nice pet, so I shot and stuffed
him. But first L proved to the negro
that his sense OF smell was by no means
acute. When he was really hungry, he
could not find carrion, which was hidden
from him, in places where pig would
have gone right to it. He had to see it
| first every time."-N. Y. Tribune.
"A man on wedding toNr may be
| recognized even if his bride is not with
| him. When he meets women he looks
| at their clothes instead of their faces.
| He is beginning to wonder what suon