202 REPORT 1 844. 



complete success the structure and arrangement of the feathers, the relative 

 intensities of the colours, and the characteristic expression of the living bird 

 may be transferred to a block of wood by the hand of original genius. Many 

 recent wood-engravers have approached Bewick, but none have yet equalled 

 him. Among the most successful of these the Messrs. Thompson of London 

 must be especially mentioned. Their woodcuts in Yarrell's ' British Birds ' 

 are beautiful works of art ; in delicacy of execution they often exceed the 

 engravings of Bewick ; but the occasional stiffness of attitude in the birds, 

 and a conventional shetchiness in the accompaniments, indicate the profes- 

 sional artist and not the self-taught child of Nature. 



The beauty of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' is much enhanced by improvements 

 in the preparation of paper and ink, and in the mode of taking off the impres- 

 sions which have been introduced since Bewick's time. It is probable that 

 if the wood-blocks of Bewick, now in the possession of the great engraver's 

 family, were entrusted to one of our first-rate London printers, an edition of 

 Bewick's ' Birds ' could be now produced, far superior in execution to any 

 which was issued in the lifetime of the author. 



2. Metallic jilate-engravhig. — Line engravings or etchings on copper or 

 steel have been at all times extensively applied to the illustration of ornitho- 

 logical works. Such engravings, if uncoloured, are certainly inferior in effec- 

 tiveness to good woodcuts, as an example of which I may mention the nume- 

 rous plates of birds in Shaw's ' Zoology ' and Griffith's ' Cuvier,' M'hich though 

 often respectably executed, are almost useless for the purpose of specific 

 diagnosis ; and even when carefully coloured, engraved plates rarely approach 

 in excellence, and in my opinion never equal the best examples of lithography. 

 The greater stubbornness of the material involves almost of necessity a certain 

 constraint in the attitudes represented: just as the statues of ancient Egypt 

 which were carved out of hard basalt, never attained the grace and animation 

 which has been conferred upon the tractable marbles of Greece, and the still 

 softer alabaster of Italy. In proof of this I may refer to Temminck's ' Planches 

 Coloriees,' and to the recent works of Lesson, Quoy, D'Orbigny and other 

 French ornithologists. The figures of birds in these plates, though delicately 

 and even beautilully engraved, are often exceedingly stiff and unnatural, a 

 defect owing partly no doubt to too great a familiarity with stuffed specimens^ 

 but in part also to the unyielding material on which they are engraved. If the 

 Parisian ornithological artists have not the means of studying, living nature, 

 they might at least take for their models the designs of Nature's best copyist 

 — Gould. 



The defects shown to be incident to line-engraving attach indeed in a less 

 degree to etching. The resistance to the tool being diminished in the latter 

 process the lines are drawn Avith greater ease and freedom. Here the main 

 diflSculty is to avoid hardness and coarseness in the delineation of the plumage. 

 Many etchings which are otherwise meritorious, have failed in this point, 

 and the lines which were intended to represent the smooth soft plumage of 

 birds, resemble rather the scales of a fish or the wiry hair of the Sloth or 

 Platypus, 



The plates of Mr. Selby's ' Illustrations of British Ornithology ' are cer- 

 tainly the finest examples extant of ornithological etchings, though they are 

 nearly equalled by some of the plates etched by Sir W. Jardine, Mr. Selby 

 and Captain Mitford in the ' Illustrations of Ornithology.' 



In the plates of Audubon's ' Birds of America ' line-engraving is combined 

 with aqua-tint, a method which, when well-executed, may be used with ad- 

 vantage to increase the depth and softness of line-engravings or etchings. 



3. Lithography We have next to consider that style of illustration which 



