ggs. First I would take a peep at the eggs, for the
bird always quitted the nest on my approach; then I would gaze into the
dense tangle of tree, bramble, and ivy springing out of the mass 'of
black rock and red clay of the opposite bank. In the centre of this
rough tangle which overhung the stream there grew an old stunted and
crooked fir tree with its tufted top so shut out from the light by the
branches and foliage round it that it looked almost black. One evening I
sat down on the green bank opposite this tangle when the low sun behind
me shone level into the mass of rock and rough boles and branches, and
fixing my eyes on the black centre of the mass I encountered a pair of
crimson eyes staring back into mine. A level ray of light had lit up
that spot which I had always seen in deep shadow, revealing its secret.
After gazing steadily for some time I made out a crow's nest in the
dwarf pine top and the vague black forms of three young fully fledged
crows sitting or standing in it. The middle bird had the shining crimson
eyes; but in a few moments the illusory colour was gone and the eyes
were black.

It was certainly an extraordinary thing: the ragged-looking
black-plumaged bird on its ragged nest of sticks in the deep shade, with
one ray of intense sunlight on its huge nose-like beak and blood-red
eyes, a sight to be remembered for a lifetime! It recalled Zurbaran's
picture of the "Kneeling Monk," in which the man with everything about
him is steeped in the deepest gloom except his nose, on which one ray of
strong light has fallen. The picture of the monk is gloomy and austere
in a wonderful degree: the crow in his interior with sunlit big beak and
crimson eyes looked nothing less than diabolical.

I paid other visits to the spot at the same hour, and sat long and
watched the crows while they watched me, occasionally tossing pebbles on
to them to make them shift their positions, but the magical effect was
not produced again.

As to the cause of that extraordinary colour in the crow's eyes, one
might say that it was merely the reflected red light of the level sun.
We are familiar with the effect when polished and wet surfaces, such as
glass, stone, and water, shine crimson in the light of a setting sun;
but there is also the fact, which is not well known, that the eye may
show its own hidden red--the crimson colour which is at the back of
the retina and which is commonly supposed to be seen only with the
ophthalm