Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1894-05-23
Expression in the Animal Eye.


The yellow eyes of the sheep and the
goat have probably never been the subject
of q word of commendstion, while poets
and painters have never tired of celebrs-
ting the dark eyes of their cousins, the
rosbuck and the gazelle. In birds the con
trast Is even more marked. AS q rule, tie
eyes of the hawks are light yellow, bright
and piercing, with wonderful powers Of
vision. The true falcons, which do not
surpass the hawks either in si1. or cour-
age, have black eyes, which lend nobility
and dignity to the expression of the bid
which the goshawk, with all its nobility of
carriage. never sttsins.
There Is something indefinitely roguish
and mischievous In the light blue eye of
the jsckdaw, which would bs pure ruin TO
the character of its grave cousin ''psrson"
rook, IL, by some unkind freak of nature,
one were born with such dis6gurement;
indeed, 1t may be doubted If the colony
would not pronouncs sentence of execu-
ton at once upon such q discredlt to the
tribe. There seems good reason to believe
that this feature, often the only obvious
mark which distinguishes young nestlings
of one species from those of another, 10
that which leads to the detection and
prompt destruction by birds of the newly
Matched young from alien eggs which have
been placed for experiment In their meats.
There is, however, one middle shade found
in birds eyes which Ia sipgalsrly beautiful,
the so-oslled gravel colored" eye of GER
tain breeds of pigeon. This is really q
brilliant shade of tswny red, and though
unshsded by lsshes. aud set in the center
of the bare ''cers," gives to the birds q
bold and intelligent appearance In COM
plete contrast to the vspid effect of red
eyes In most animal faces.
We believe that the countensnce of q
pink eyed slbino guinea pig is as nearly
devoid OF expression SIS II lie possible for
| the face of a qusdrupei to be; and when
ever the pink. eye accompanies albinism
there Is sn obvieus loss Of interest In the
face, though the eye, considered as an OBJ
jeet apart, msy have the depth snd lustre
of q smooth garnet. Whsre slhiuism de-
velops blue eyss, as In white cats, and
sometimes in white horses, the loss OF sx-
preston Is less; but even in the horse, the
blue eye. tinged with pinkish white, is too
| like that of hsh to suggest tenth part OF
| the intelligence and power of emotion Ia
| tent In the face of the daTk-eyed Arabian.
Even dogs with light eyes have less of the
| appearance OF truth and trustfulness than
| others, though the pale eye lie seen In some
| of the most ancient and valuable breeds,
| such a. the lemon snd-white Clumber
| spaniel. In the case of the dog, the hu-
| man preference for the dark over the light
| eye 10 perhaps explained by the sfinity
\ 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 oi
1 the vulpine eyes. They are Set close to-
gether, and the inner corners run down al
i most parallel to the muzz.e- In addition,
the pupil of the fox's eye expands and
contracts like that of q est. By day the
leye is q mere yellow orb. with a narrow
line of black In the center. The reason
that ths stuffed foxes heads to be seen In
| 30 many country homes bear the smisbis
and most unfoIy expression which they
do, 10 that the artist" who stufs IL sticks
In nice brown glsss eyes with black pupils
which he takes from the compartment Ia
bslled dogs In the curious box In which
glass eyes for all creatures. from tontits &c
stsgs, are kept duly sorted for use.
Cats eyes are by no means devoid OF |
pleasing expression, except In strong light
but among them the dark gray iris of tn,
Augora and fome of the "blus" cats give
look of reposs and serenity which th,
brassy orbs of the yellow eyed varieties
never possess. A larger and more striking
example of the same differences is found IN
contrast of the yellow eyes of the blscl
leopard at the Zoo, one of the most IN
pleasant looking of the big felidoe, and tn
dark, convex eyes of the ocelot. Bus tn
most striking irstsnce of the immense diff
ference between the effeot of the light ey
and the dark Ia seen in the case of q ney
species of esgle owl which has just beef
brought TO the Zoo from Mashonslsnd
The great brown eagle owl of northern
Europe, with its huge, round, yellow an