The morning news., 1894-05-27
THE ANIMAL EYE.
Except in Few Instances the Eye Be.
speaks Intelligence in Its Owner.
From the London Spectator.

speaks Intelligence in Its Owner.
From the London Spectator.
The yellow eyes of the sheep and the
goat have pro baby never been the sub
Ject ola word of commendation, while
poets and painters have never tired of
celebrating the dark eyes of their cousins,
the roebuck and the gazelle. In birds
the contrast is even more marked As a
rude. the eyes of the hawks are light vel
low, bright, and piercing, with wonder
fal powers of vision. The true falcons,
which do not surpass the hawks either
ln size or courage, have black eyes, which
leuda nobility and dignity to the express
sion OF the bird which the goshawk, with
all Its nobility of carriage, never attains.
There is something infinitely roguish
Iand mischievous in the light-blue eve of
the Jackdaw, which would be pure ruin
to the character of its grave cousin par
son" rock, if, by some unkind freak of
nature, one were born with such dis
hgufement; indeed, it may be doubted if
the colony would not pronounce sentence
OF execution at once upon such a discredit
10 the tribe There seems good reason to-
| believe that this feature, often the only
obvious mark which distinguishes young
nestllngs of one species from those of an
other, is that which leads to the detection
and prompt destruction by birds
of the newly hatched young from alien
eggs which have been placed for expert
ment in their nests. There is. however,
| one middle shade found in birds eyes
which is siugularly beautiful. the So
called "graYel-colored" eye of certain
| breeds of pl2eon This is really a bril-
liant shade of tawny red, and though un-
shaded by lashes. and set in the center of
the bareJTcere, gives to the birds bold
| and intelligent appearance in complete
contrast to the vapid effect of red eyes in
most animal faces
We believe that the countenance of a
pink-eyed albino guinea pig is as nearly
| devoid of expression as it is possible for
the face OF quadruPed to be; and when
| ever the pink eye accompanies albinism
there is an obvious loss of interest in the
face, though the eye, considered as an
object apart, may have the depth and
luster of a smooth garnet. Where al
binism develops blue eyes, as in white
cats. and sometimes in white horses, the
loss of expression is less; but even in the
horse, the blue eye. ringed with pinkish
white, is too like that of fish TO suggest a
tenth part of the intelligence and power of
/ emotion latent in the face of the dark-eyed
Ara bian. Even dogs with light eyes
have less of the appearance of truth and
trustfulnesS than Others though the pale
and valuable breeds. such as the lemon
and-white Clumber spaniel In the case
of the dog, the human preference for the
dark over the light eye, is perhaps ex-
planned by the affinity which the last has
with that of the wolf and the common
fox. The cunning, shifty look which the
last animal possesses, is largely due not
only to the yellow color, but also to the
shape and mechanism of the vulpine eyes.
or p1n md ho
corners run down almost parallel to
the muzzle. In addition, the pupil of the
foxs eye expands and contracts like that
of a cat. Byday the eye is mere yellow
orb. with a narrow line of black in the
center. The reason that the stuffed
foxes heads to be seen in so many coun-
try houses bear the amiable and most un-
foxy expression which they do, is that
the artist who stuffs it sticks in nice
brown glass eyes with black pupils,
which he takes from the compartment
labeled dogs in the curious box in
which glass eyes for all creatures, from
tomtits TO stays, are kept duly sorted for
use. IS
Cats, eyes are by no means devoid of
pleasing expression, except in strong
light; but among them the dark-gray
iris of the An ora and some of the "blue"
cats gives a look of reEoSe and serenity
y
varieties never possess. A larger and
more striking example of the same differ
ence is found in contrast OF the yellow
eyes of the black leopard at the Zoo, one,
of the most unpleasant looking of the big
felid8, .aad-the dark; convex eyes of the
o eliot. But the most striking instance of
l. the-iHEHense- difference between the eject
OF the tighteye and thedark is seen in the
case - of a new species of eagle
owl which has just been
brought to the Zoo from Mashona-
land. The great brown eagle-owl of north
ern- Europe, with its huge. round, yellow
and back eyes, with which it sternly
stares the visitor out of coun tenance, has
a fierce, wide-awake, resentful express
sion, exactly in keeping with its char
acter The "milky eagle-owl, "a splendid
bird, with plumage barred with wavy
lines OF gray from the crest 10 talons, has
oval eyes of the deepest black, soft and
lustrous, and Shaded with eyelids and
lashes The result is a change of express
sion to something quite unlike the face Of
any bird, and more humun than that of
most beasts. 1t is certainly the finest
birdeye yet disco vered.