HIGH PHEASANTS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your review of Sir R. Payne-Gallwey's book on Pheasant Shooting you comment on the author's assertion that pheasants overhead look smaller than the same birds seen horizontally, and you add that no authority is quoted. It is an interesting fact that a dark body seen against light always looks less than its actual size. This effect is similar to "halation," the photographer's bugbear in interiors with lighted windows where the lights tend to spread, and the same tendency is made use of in " half-tone " reproduction. The fact can best be demonstrated by looking at any lattice-work against a strong light—say a girder bridge against a brilliantly lighted hazy sky, when it will possibly be found that the finer parts disappear entirely. In regard to the pheasants, it must be borne in mind that the upper sky is usually the most intensely lighted, even though it may not appear so.—I am,
Lir, Sze., E. S. HARRISON. Hub:field, Forteath Avenue, Elgin. NOTICE.—When "Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's name or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily e held to Le in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode of
expression. In such instances, or in the case of "Leiters to the Editor," insertion only means that the matter or point of view is considered of sufficient interest and importance to warrant publication.
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