Limits of the Law Q. Is there any such thing in New York as a citizen's arrest? A. Yes, but don't go thinking you're an ad hoc member of your local precinct. A police officer can make an arrest based on probable cause. But under the law, citizens can make arrests only when they witness a crime, and using only the force necessary to subdue a suspect.

In a city where more people than you'd like to know about are armed, the police don't encourage this sort of thing. After all, there's always 911.

Now suppose you're feeling a bit fed up and sassy, and you want to arrest someone for, say, littering. Put your handcuffs away: littering is a violation of the civil code, not of the criminal code, and the law says hands off. A Misnomer Revealed Q. I heard that the Washington Irving house is erroneously named. True fact? A. The house at 40 Irving Place on the corner of 17th Street was built in 1845, but its residents were Elsie de Wolfe and Elisabeth Marbury, two ladies of "taste and social ability," and not Irving, according to the Blue Book.

Exactly how it got its current name is not clear, but it sits across the street from a bronze bust of the early American author, which stands in front of a high school that was also named after him.

The Blue Book recalls a different name for the house in de Wolfe and Marbury's day. The two, an interior decorator and a literary agent, ran a Sunday salon that attracted a lot of foreign guests and became known as the "immigrants' home," the Blue Book says. Bright-Eyed, Indeed Q. In Herald Square, there is a memorial tower with a clock and a few bronze birds. Is it my imagination or do their eyes light up? A. The sculpture, on Broadway between 34th and 35th Street, was once attached to the New York Herald Building, which was erected in 1895 and came down in 1921.

In the 1940's, Aymar Embury 2d designed a base for the piece, and up it went as a memorial to James Gordon Bennett, the Herald's founder.

The memorial depicts Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and invention, flanked by -- deadline, anyone? -- two bellringers (the monument is thus sometimes called the Bellringers Monument).

It also features a clock and two owls.

Now, to the point: the owls' eyes contain bulbs on timers. They do indeed light up.

The city's clock master, Marvin Schneider, has the job of keeping the birds' eyes beady. How the Tolls Add Up Q. How much money is collected from bridge and tunnel tolls? I want a revenue breakdown and a description of where the cash goes, please. A. In 1993, the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority took in $725.7 million in bridge and toll fees. Thirty percent of this money goes toward operating expenses, and the rest goes to public transportation.

Here is the breakdown, in millions:

Triboro Bridge: $169.8

Bronx-Whitestone Bridge: $106.2

Queens-Midtown Tunnel: $72.7

Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel: $50.7

Throgs Neck Bridge: $122.3

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: $166.9

Henry Hudson Bridge: $22.7

Marine Parkway Bridge: $8.1

Cross-Bay Bridge: $6.3 The Story of . . . Chris Q. A friend tells me that there is a state park in Brooklyn and that there is a man who works there, Chris, who is some kind of legend. What can you tell me about this? A. That's Chris Roberts at the Empire-Fulton State Park, at 26 New Dock Street. The three-acre park is next to the Brooklyn Bridge, smack in the historical warehouse section of the borough (once home to coffee and tobacco inspectors).

Mr. Roberts, a park supervisor, was surprised to hear that he had been described as legendary. But he admitted to a bit of a heroic streak. A few years ago, he said, he rescued two children from an overturned car by smashing in the windows with the help of his colleagues.

And in a quieter vein, he wrote a letter to New York magazine two years ago, urging that Betsy Gotbaum, then the Parks Commissioner, visit park workers. He said she did so soon after. JENNIFER STEINHAUER Questions (and answers) may be sent to F.Y.I., The City, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036.