Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-10-25
Rapid Motion and Powerful
Vision Go Together.
EAGLE Has Telescope Eyes-EVen the
Familiar Robin and the Jay Have
Been SingularIy Endowed by
Nature In This Respect.

Chicago.-The eye in the bird king
dom is telescope, with the tlsh II is
microscopic, in the mole documentary
The eagle and the vulture have the
faculty of adjusting the eye to dis
Germ objects at a great distance. Inc
eagle from the far off mountain sees
the flock in the valley below ana &C
Curately surveys the situation Tor MS
descent AS he swoops nearer ana
nearer to his victim the lens in MS
eye steadily readjusts itself to the de-
creasing distance and when he strikes
the lamb already chosen for his dinner
the long distance vision has narrowed
down to the scope of few yards.
The vulture is equal to the eagle In
vision as he is in flight. Every farmer
knows if he kills a blue racer and
leaves it by the roadside a vulture
soaring overhead comes down and ap-
propriates It, In South America
where the condor lives, the hunter OF
wild animals dares not leave his game
/ long exposed and unprotected. AT nrst
/ not a condor can be seen, but present
/ " a dark speck appears in the upper
/ air and 1t grows larger and is soon tol-
/ lowed by another and another until a
score Of condors have descended 10
| the feast These have the telescope
eye. From the height Of mile or two
these birds survey the earth beneath
and observe the movements OF all
]
such vision only by artificial ald'
which is an amplification Of the pro-
cesses Of nature. The eagle possessed
a telescope before Galileo's invention
ANY farmer boy who has ever at
tempted to come within gunshop OF a
crow or a hawk perched on the dry
limb of a tree can testify to the sharp
vision of these birds at long distance
Cookers hawk is the greatest enemy
TO the poultry yard. Soaring hlgn II
the air, this bird of prey sees the tiny
chicks. and he comes like rocket tc
seize the one he has chosen as tar
get. Even the common birds about
the lawn-the robin and the jaybird-
have this same eaglelike power o.
vision modified to their requirements
The jaybird will detect very tiny
worm or insect in the grass from a dis
lance of forty or fifty feet and will de
scend upon the object with unerrint
, aim of beak. The seed eaters, meadow
, larks and sparrows. need no such vi
, sion. and are therefore denied its pos
session.
) The eye of the owl is especially de
signed for short distance vision. Thi'
, bird can see imperfectly but a few
I yards away. The eye of the owl is al
r ranged to concentrate a great divers
ence of the rays of light whereby tn
= bird can discern near objects in
. faint light The owl can see very wei
r at a short distance even in THO
I darkness. The owls eye is somewha
a dishlike and fat, so that much ligh
r may enter. This arrangement pei
, mits too much light to enter the pup
4 in the daytime. and therefore owls ar
$ almost blind in the glare of the sun,
n There Is correlation betwee
h swiftness Of wing and range of visior
III The OWL IS exceedingly SlOW VI Iu'
D swiftness of wing and range of vision
]. vision, while the longer sighted an
mails are swift of foot. Fleet animal
such as the antelope and deer an
others living on boundless prairie
v can see a long distance and are swi
, in movement Animals living in th
IS woods have no need of such Ion
vision nor swift movement. All ere
lures living in spacious regions an
strong light move rapidly and wit
ly clear vision, as instance the fly cate
t. err the king bird and the chime
I'd swift, which take their food on II
wing. The motions of these birds al
exceedingly graceful as well as rapi
d. Their vision is both telescope and II
croscopic.
Whether birds have the power
discriminating between different CT
Mt ors is an open question. An old be
keeper holds that the bee knows oil
color from the other, and he thereto
Up paints the hives in various colors as
guide to the weary. heavy laden Wor