HIGH PHEASANTS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In the review of Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey's " High Pheasants in Theory and in Practice" which appeared in your issue of October 4th, the question is raised why a pheasant when viewed vertically looks smaller than when seen at the same distance horizontally. Is this not simply an optical delusion, and brought about by the same cause that makes it so difficult to judge its pace, viz., that it has the sky only for background P Just as the moon when low on the horizon appears so much larger than when high in the heavens— because in the former position the eye takes in familiar objects, such as trees, hay-stacks, houses, &c., along with it and unconsciously makes comparison, with the well-known result—so I would suggest does the horizontal pheasant look larger as the eye compares it with the twigs, branches, and leaves of the surrounding trees.—I am, Sir, &c., 7 Loudon Terrace, Glasgow, W E. G. FORTUNE.
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