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ORNITHOLOGY AT ST. MARK’S. 
BY J. A. FARLEY. 
OrnNITHOLOGY at St. Mark’s has nothing to do with the pigeons 
that flock to be fed in the sunny piazza in front of the ancient 
church. Nor does it apply to any birds, alive or dead, within the 
resplendent edifice. It has reference only to the remarkable 
mosaics of bird-life, done by an unknown medieval artist, which 
may be seen just inside the glistening portals of the building. 
Ornithology at St. Mark’s, therefore, means the pictures of birds 
that appear among the other rich Byzantine mosaics in the ceiling 
of the atrium of the venerable shrine of St. Mark the Evangelist. 
Most of these mosaics are of the thirteenth century and are thus 
among the earliest in San Marco, although exceeded in point of age 
by the famous eleventh and twelfth century work of the golden 
interior of the Venetian basilica. 
The Old Testament story through Genesis and Exodus is told in 
the mosaics of the atrium; and their chief natural history lies in 
the series that illustrates the life of Noah. Most notable in this. 
respect are the nine mosaics of the Flood. These are of the early 
thirteenth century. They may be seen on the under side of the 
arch that separates the main entrance of the church (door of St. 
Mark) and the cupola next to the Capella Zen. Arranged in tiers. 
they show in the highest the building of the Ark, following the 
command of the Lord to Noah. In the tier next below the animals 
enter the Ark, by sevens and by pairs — the clean and the unclean. 
The four-footed creatures are grouped on the right; the crowd of 
birds are on the left. Among the latter are a number of representa- 
tive Old World forms. 
These bird-pictures are of deepest interest. The medieval 
mosaicist (whether Byzantine master or Italian pupil), hampered 
though he was by his stiff art, did his work on the whole wonder- 
fully well in respect to a truthful representation of nature. Further- 
more, his art makes his remote age to live again—in a new and 
unexpected way. It appears that certain species of birds were as. 
representative forms of wild life in the thirteenth century as they 
