L72 Faruey, Ornithology at St. Marks. [ack 
are to-day. Birds as well-known now as then figure in mosaics 
made seven hundred years ago! It is hard not to speak in extrava- 
gant terms of the mosaicist who proved himself no mean naturalist 
(or at least observant student of nature) by portraying so faith- 
fully the forms of wild life that he saw about him. 
Conspicuous among these speaking likenesses appear two of the 
best known game birds of Europe which for centuries have afforded 
food and sport for man — the Red-legged Partridge, Caccabis rufa, 
and the common grey Partridge Perdix perdix. Not all of the 
bright, showy coloration of the Red-legged Partridge is pictured 
in the colored cubes of the mosaic, but the artist seized upon 
enough salient points of plumage to characterize the species com- 
pletely. There is the striking, bold, black ring on the head behind 
the eye and the very evident row of transverse, black stripes on the 
sides and flanks, together with the white and brown quills of the 
wing. In spite of some minor faults, both of omission and com- 
mission, the species is exceedingly well-portrayed. Undoubtedly 
in the thirteenth century the Red-legged Partridge was as well- 
known a game bird and as much admired for its good looks as it is 
today. Small wonder that the artist took pains! Long, long 
before the Middle Ages, if report be true, this pugnacious fowl was 
kept for fighting purposes, like the game cock to-day, and tradition 
runs that the Emperor Alexander Severus enjoyed the sport. 
The common grey Partridge — esteemed for the excellence of its 
‘flesh since the days of Martial —is as well pictured as the less 
succulent, red-legged species. Here again the mosaicist indicates 
plainly what is perhaps the best field-mark of the bird — the buffy 
head and throat and the contrasting, slaty, vermiculated breast. 
The characteristic cross-bars on the grey sides are strangely omitted, 
to be sure, but the narrow, whitish, linear streaking on the brown 
wings (another good diagnostic feature) appears plainly — though 
in a rudimentary way. Another good bird-portrait — broadly 
speaking — in spite of the relative failure as to details. 
A third plainly portrayed game bird of Europe is the Pheasant. 
The handsome pair stand directly above the Grey Partridges and 
behind the Red-legged Partridges. The scarlet before and below 
the eye of the cock Pheasant is as well brought out in the mosaic 
as in any Dutch painting of still life. The rich orange of the 
