28 



THE OOLOGIST 



Tfie ©^to^ist 



FIFTH PUBLICATION TEAR. 



OCTOBER, 1879. 



We have received a commuuicatiou from 

 Messrs. A. Gvvyn Fostef and Ame. AV. 

 Butler, stating their intention to visit Mex- 

 ico the coming winter, for the purpose ot 

 making collections of natural history spec- 

 imens. They will pay particular attention 

 to collections in ornithology, entomology, 

 conchology and archa>ology, and expect to 

 be able to supply private cabinets with some 

 valuable material. Students wishing to 

 communicate with them can dii'ect their 

 letters to the care of the U. S. Legation, 

 City of Mexico. 



We hope to have our plates out ere long. 

 It has been impossible to issue them this 

 month. 



BIRD DELINEATION. 



T^O be able to portray nature with pencil 

 or brush has ever been a qualification 

 much desired by the ornithologist, and there 

 are indeed few who combine inborn talent 

 for art, with innate love of birds. As a 

 rule, the scientist's profession does not con- 

 sider the line of beauty, but the harsh as- 

 perities of fact ; and where the liking for 

 one is predominant, taste for the other is 

 usually more or less wanting. There are 

 some artists, however, whose appreciation 

 of nature is such as to pervade the whole 



of their pictures : wherein we do not find 

 truth sacrificed for imagination or fancy. 

 Many of the best artists of some schools 

 condemn this style of execution, on the well 

 known principle that aesthetics must ever 

 be the fii'st consideration in a picture, and 

 strict application to truth, according to their 

 theory, does not constitute beauty. The 

 ornithologist differs from this latter school. 

 The plainest and most awkward appearing 

 bird in the world, delineated with strict re- 

 gard to nature, with every detail accurate- 

 ly and carefully worked out, appeals more 

 strongly to the appreciation of the natural- 

 ist than the brightest, gaudiest and most 

 graceful figure the painter can produce. 

 There are reasons for this which many peo- 

 ple do not readily understand. The ornith- 

 ologist does not consider colors nor grace 

 in a bird picture, unless these attach to oth- 

 er more valuable qualities, and then only 

 as secondary. He first views the picture, 

 not merely as a bird, but as the represen- 

 tation of some particular species; and his 

 eye is detained upon it in accordance with 

 the intrinsic value — to use a simple yet 

 applicable expression — of the species de- 

 picted. This accounts for his indifi'ei-ence 

 toward that beautiful figure of the Scarlet 

 Tanager or Bird of Paradise, and his ad- 

 miration of that faithful, though sober pic- 

 ture of the recently discovered AYreu or 

 Vireo. We are now speaking of the value 

 of bird delineations to the naturalist, with- 

 out regard to his artistic abilities. A fault 

 quickly to be observed in a picture by the 

 experienced bird enthusiast is the oft repeat- 

 ed evil of unnatural position. Above all 

 other animate objects, a bird requires to 

 be delineated in any position but the stuffed- 

 body attitude. Bird-books are prone to il- 

 lustrate their (contents with stiff, awkward 

 engravings, and not a few are embellished 

 with pictures of birds pitching forward or 

 backward, while the eyes appear to look in 

 several directions at once. No doubt the 

 disapprobation of bird delineations in gen- 

 eral was first caused by the unsightly and 

 and faii'ly hideous pictures that used to be 

 printed in bird books, for many of our most 



