The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-23
EYES LIKE OPERA GLASSES.
How the Negroes Capture Buzzards Aliv'
in the southern States

in the Southern States
That's buzzard-an ordinary Amer
lean buzzard," said a taxide-mist to a
Tribune reporter. whose attention had
been attracted by stuffed bird in the
window about the size of an ordinary
hen turkey They're common enough
In the southern states, especially N
Florida, where I caught that one my
self one winter. / wanted to capture
one alive, and a negro boy showed me
how to do il. We took boards and
fenced in a 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 sy, but
the darby assured me that one would
arrive before long. He said buzzard
would smell dead animal twenty miles
away. told the boy that / probably
did not know as much about catching
a buzzard alive as he did, but l knew
that the bird did not smell carrion at
any great distance; he saw it The boy
did not believe me when / explained &c
him the perfectly well-known fact that
the buzzard has an eye like an opera
glass. He can screw 1t in or out, so to
speak. and fit it to the distance arcoss
which he wants to look at any object.
That's a handy sort of eye to have, isn't
it?
THE eyeball is surrounded by horny
plates which move slightly on eacf
other. The muscles at the back of the
eve 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 eye assumes
a conelilIe appearance from the outside.
Rv relaxing this pressure and exerting
these muscles in the opposite direction,
the front of the eye can be made nat
Rv this means the buzzard can, while
t,ving at great height, sweep the
ground with his elescopic eye in search
! of carbon. and as he approaches the
earth he can keep adjusting his sight SO
that he sees the desired object plainly,
even when il is under his very beak
I However, as l said before, the negro
boy stuck to his theory of smell.
/ s''De res one now he said, pointing
up toward the sun. In vain / looked
and strained my eyes till they streamed
with tears | could see no buzzard
/ 'Dere he is, sure enough repeated the
darky. Hes smelt de pork and he's
a-commin' fer it BY and by l was
able to discern a black speck far up IN
the blue. which was describing great
sweeps and circles as II came slowl y
nearer. without making the least mo-
ton of its feathers. It was fascinating
to watch that calm, confident, swift
silent motion, and envied the creature
his marvellous power and wanted &C
exchange lives with him, till l 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 1o'
had a meal for long time, for he sim
ply corged himself, as we hoped ne
would do.
Now. when a buZzard is go-ged M
cannot rise straight up in the air, h'
has got to make a run for it and rise "
an imaginary inclined plane. like IA
goose rising from the water. We knew
this and had provided for the conven
fence of the greedy bird nice httl'
low doorway, cut in the boards on tn
ground floor, and about two feet high
About this door. on the outside, we ha'
arranged neat moose of oiled fishlin
ready for the head of the bird II n
polled it out. When he had eaten a!
he wanted he looked up into the al
and seeing the fence uucomforta b..
high and close around him, decided L
walk out OF the door and make his ris
where there was plenty of space for
preliminary run. As he po<ed his hea'
out of the hole the moose fitted hin
nicely. He did not notice itand walker
on. In about three steps he came
the end OF the fishline and the noos
frightened.
with hoarse cry of fright he mad
a dash for liberty with legs and wings
but the moose choked him and Hoppe
him over on his back. where ne la
kicking like mad. We rushed up an
, threw big fish net over him, as nj
powerful claws and beak were dar
, gerous weapons, and would infiict a
! ugly cut Moreover, as the bird live
on carton, wound from him otte
produces blood poisoning. l kept hir
! about my camp for a time, but he wa
not nice pet, so 1 shot and stuffe
} him. But first l proved to the negr
, that his sense of smell was By no mean
acute. When he was really hungry, n
; could not find carrion. which was hidde
from him. in places where pig woul
: have gone right 10 it He had to see
first ever tirne."-N Y. Tribune.
> "A man on a wedding toar may b
recognized even if his bride is not wit
him. When he meets women he loo-
at their clothes instead of their face
| He iS hariuuiup TO wonder what sue