Year: 1879

---- Training the Eye


John Burroughs thus writes in Serb
tner's Magazine


A man has q sharper eye than a dog,


or a fox, or than any Of the wild Crea-
tures, but not so sharp an ear or nose.


But in the birds he finds his match.
How quickly the old turkey discovers
| the hawk, a mere speck against the sky,
land how quickly the hawk discovers
lyou if You happen to be secreted in the
! bushes, or behind the fence near which
/ he alights. I find I see almost without


effort, nearly every bird within sight in


the field or wood / pass through "a fit
7 of the wing, a f1irt of the tail are enough,
/ though the Pickering leaves do all con-


Bpire to hide them), and that with like


ease the birds see me, though, unques-
/ tionably, the chances are immensely in


their favor. The eye sees what it has


the means of seeing, truly. You must
/ have the bird in your heart before you
can find it in the bush. The eye rust
have purpose and aim. No gne ever yet


found the walking-fern who did not
have the Yalking-fern in his mind.
Nevertheless, the habit Of observation
Is the habit of clear and decisive gazing
not bv a first casual glance, but by a
steady, deliberate ainfOf the eye are The
Characteristic things discovered. You
must look intently and hold the eye
firmly to the spot, TO see moro tllan do
the rank and file of mankind. The


sharp-shooter picks his man and knows


him with fatal certainty from stump,
or a rock, or a cap OH pole. The phre-
nologists do well to locate notOnly form,
color, weight, etc, in the region Of the
eve. but a faculty which they call indi-


giduality-tbat which separates, discrim-
mates and sees in every object its essen-
tial character. This is Just as necessary
to the naturalist as to the artist or the


poet. The sharp eye notes specific points
and differences-it seizes upon and pre-
serves the individuality of the thing.


Persons frequently describe to me
some bird they have seen or heard and


ask me to name it, but in most eases the


bird might be any Of a dozen, or else it


is totally unlike any bird found in this
continent. They have either seen
falsely or else vaguely. NotsO the farm


youth who wrote me one winter day
that he had single pair Of strange
birds which he describes as follows {:


They were about the size of a tGhippie,' :


the tops of their heads were red, and
the breastof the male was of the same


color, while that Of the female was much
lighter; their rumps were also family
tinged with red. IF / have described
them so that you would know them,


please write me their names" There


can be little doubt but that the young
observer had seen a pair of red polls
bird related to the goldfnch, and that
occasionally comes down to us in the


winter from the far north. Another


lime the same youth wrote that he had
seen a strange bird, the color of a spar


row, that alighted on fences and build
ings as well as upon the ground, and that


walked. This last fact showed the
youths discriminating eye and settled
the case. knew it to be a species of


lark, and from the time, size, color, etc.


the tit-lark. But how many persons


would have observed that the bird


walked instead of hoped?