Page "Mirage" Paragraph 2

In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon which can be captured on camera, since light rays actually are refracted to form the false image at the observer's location.

What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind.

For example, inferior images on land are very easily mistaken for the reflections from a small body of water.