THE ARTIST AND THE BIRD 



No artist is so daring in the blending and con- 

 trasting of colour as Nature constantly shows 

 herself to be. In the Natural History Museum 

 at South Kensington, a large case is set apart 

 simply to illustrate the richness, delicacy, and 

 subtle gradations of colouring as it appears 

 among birds and butterflies. Many of the com- 

 binations would appear to be almost reckless, yet 

 they are invariably effective. A colour scheme 

 in the gaudiest yellow, red and blue might well 

 appal the modern decadent in Art, yet it is fully 

 justified in certain of the parrots; and the blue, 

 black and brown of one of the rollers, unpromising 

 as they may sound, blend together to form a 

 most dainty array. Extraordinary results are 

 also attained by the use of iridescent colouring 

 seen to the greatest advantage in the plumage of 

 the sun-birds and humming-birds. It is some- 

 what curious to note that in our own sombre 

 clime, the only bird with the courage to assume 

 the rainbow hues common to the tropics is the 

 kingfisher. The pheasant brought his native 

 plumes with him from the East. 



The Artistry of Nature 

 It was a fancy of Richard Jeft'eries — perhaps 

 more than mere fancy — ^that the colours of wild 

 creatures were selected from their surroundings, 

 as if they had been gathered and skilfully mingled 

 together : that they can be traced and paralleled 

 in the trees, bushes, grasses and flowers as if 

 extracted from them by some secret alchemy. 

 It is certainly true that if we study carefully the 

 environment of many living things we shall find 

 not only the hues and shades, but at times, the 

 actual patterns themselves which afterwards 

 appear in the feather of the bird, or the wing of 

 the butterfly that haunts that particular spot. 

 One might imagine that Nature, the great Artist, 



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