THE ARTISTS BIRDS. 1S7 



the conventional V? tlo duty for the Gull. In one 

 instance only did the artist attempt anything more, 

 but his bird was faulty, and gave one no idea of the 

 graceful Gull as it is at home, flying buoyantly over 

 a stormy sea. The attitude for a bird in the air 

 was wrong, the body was too small in proportion to 

 the wings. The primary feathers of the latter should 

 have been drawn recurved at the tips, as would cer- 

 tainly have been the case in the gale of wind which 

 the artist wished us to feel was sweeping over the 

 sea in squally gusts. I wondered deeply at this 

 inaccuracy, for of all birds the Gulls are perhaps 

 the easiest to study, as they poise and turn and 

 hover above the water within a stone's throw of the 

 observer. The characteristics of their flight can be 

 readily transferred to canvas, when once the artist 

 has made himself thoroughly acquainted with them. 

 Not only can he give a lifelike representation of 

 these birds, but by a few skilful touches he may 

 impart their specific identity. So far as British 

 Gulls are concerned, this is readily done. The 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull [Larus fiiscu.s) and the 

 Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinu.s) are dis- 

 tinguished from all other species by their dark-gray 

 mantle, and the former from the latter by its smaller 

 size and yellow instead of flesh-coloured legs and 



