e 16g 
yer | Farry, Ornithology at St. Marks. 179 
In the next mosaic the Dove has returned, and there ensues the 
exit from the rainbow-encircled Ark. We see the enterprising 
Red-legged Partridge already perched at the corner of the roof of 
the craft; the Dove standing in the gutter, as if in doubt, yet pre- 
paring to fly; next an unidentifiable water fowl; and last (to com- 
plete this party of “early birds’’) the Guinea Hen. One final-bird— 
an astonishing nondescript like nothing ever seen on sea or shore, 
with its red bill and foot, blue and white body, black crown and 
white crest — flies out into the very eyes of Noah who with astern 
face is hauling out of the Ark’s dark door the sprawling Lioness. 
The series of Flood mosaics ends with Noah’s sacrifice and the 
rapid dispersal of the animals which rejoicing in their recovered 
freedom are seen leaping away in every direction over the dripping 
rocks. It should be said in simple justice to Father Noah (and the 
artist) that throughout these Flood mosaics the captain of the ship 
wears the air of portentous gravity that well befits the individual 
upon whose shoulders rests the burden of the preservation of the 
entire animal life of the globe! 
The Creation mosaics (with their accompanying Latin inscrip- 
tions) of the cupola that adjoins the arch of the History of Noah 
contain more natural history which it is hard to ignore. In the 
section that shows the Lord making living things, Peacocks appear; 
while in a little pool a pair of black, coot-like birds swim close to a 
bright green crocodile. 
Most naive is the mosaic of Adam naming the beasts. (A ppella- 
vitque ‘Adam nominibus suis cuncta animantia.) The engaging 
Lioness upon whose head the First Man lays his hand has a most 
decile and half-human face — though with tongue far run out. 
That “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin” (or did at 
least before the Fall) is mirrored in the childlike complacency and 
the meek pride in her just-bestowed name of this artless beast. 
True indeed it is of this gentle Jane that she “bears her blushing 
honors” meek upon her. 
The medizval mosaicist rises nearest to greatness as an artist 
of the great out-of-doors in the beautiful mosaic that shows the 
creation of birds and fishes (Dizit etiam Dominus: producant aquae 
reptile animae viventis et volatile super terram: jumenta et omnia 
reptilia in genere suo.) 
