182 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



mind which is constantly being exercised in noting 

 the peculiarities in rock and tree and water, should 

 be employed just as lovingly and patiently in tracing 

 the habits and characteristics of the furred and 

 feathered creatures that inhabit them. He will then 

 be able to catch the happiest and most expressive 

 attitudes of the various birds, and to surround them 

 with those faultless details which so largely assist 

 him in making an effective and truthful picture. 

 He will then know what to select and what to avoid ; 

 for among birds there are species which never tell 

 to advantage, however skilfully they may be intro- 

 duced ; just as there are trees and rocks and cloud 

 effects which make bad subjects, however well they 

 may be treated. 



At a very recent exhibition I found many works 

 hanging at the Royal Academy which strikingly 

 illustrated the truth of the preceding remarks. For 

 instance, in one large painting we are shown a 

 group of Swans and Cygnets, on what I took to be 

 a Highland Lake, seeing that a Golden Eagle is in 

 the act of swooping down upon them. In the first 

 place, it is a decided error to place the Mute Swan 

 (Cygnus olor) on a mountain lake. This species is 

 nowhere wild in the British Islands. It lives in a 

 state of semi-domestication under the protection of 



