XVlil 
vance of anything I have hitherto seen in my opinion ; 
to select a few that are most excellent, those of the Gulls, 
and Skuas, perfection being reached in Bonaparte’s Gull, 
and Richardson’s Skua, they seem to lie on the page, 
altt-relievt. On the other hand the Accentor’s eggs are 
glossy as, or glossier than the Redstart’s, and Chat’s: and 
the American Cuckoo’s, which have no gloss, are as glossy 
as may be; and the calcareous look, which they seem to 
share with the Cormorants to some extent, is not at all 
suggested. 
At any rate the drawings are the work of an artist 
who has “drawn the ball.” I remember a water colour 
Artist, of established renown, going to Carey’s Academy 
to learn drawing, he decided to begin at the beginning ; 
and he spent nearly a week upon “ the ball.” After that 
he used to say ‘‘ his eyes were opened,” and, when in- 
specting pictures, he could always tell whether the artist 
had learnt to draw “the ball.” 
Mr. Seebohm says that one reason why he has not 
given illustrations of the birds themselves is that the 
“pretty” woodcats in Yarrell disheartened him; I believe 
he is in earnest here; but I would suggest this feeling to 
have been a misfortune, the few later drawings added to 
Yarrell are good ; witness the Flamingo; but this praise 
cannot be accorded to the old illustrations; in the first 
place very many of them look as if they were taken from 
stuffed birds forced into unnaturally graceful positions. 
Persons must have been often in nature struck with 
the stiff stilted look of the Herons, Gulls, and Plovers in 
repose ; standing on legs like slender posts; as the idea 
is given in the Flamingo’s picture alluded to. Compare 
the Herons in Yarrell ; compute the size of the heads of 
birds, especially of the Falconide and Anseres, with their 
bodies; look at their grasp on their perches or ground which 
