Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — Swifter Than the Eye. [ARTICLE]

Swifter Than the Eye.

The rapidity of animal motion is sometimes far greater than can be detected by the human eye. It is a favorite amusement of country boys, when they can find an owl sitting on a stump in a field, to walk around the bird at a considerable distance to see him, “twist his head off.” As the observer circles around the creature seems to follow him by turning his head and then gives the impression of moving his head continuously round in a circle. As a matter of fact, however, as soon as the owl’s neck is twisted sufficiently for comfort, he turns his head suddenly in another direction, but so quickly that the eye cannot detect the motion. The sluggish toad is sometimes tjuicker in his motions. The observer will sometimes notice a toad sitting at a distance of two or three inches from a fly. The insect vanishes and sometimes the looker-on is puzzled to tell how or why. The toad lias simply poked out its tongue and taken the fly, but the action has been so quickly performed ftiat the eye failed to detect it.—[New York News.