THE ARTISTS BIRDS. 185 



life, representing a bunch of these birds hurrying 

 from a fringe of tall reeds, also displays a sad want 

 of technical knowledge. In the first place, flowering 

 water-lilies indicate the height of summer, a season 

 when the Wild Duck is most unsocial, and when 

 the drakes (in a brown, unassuming plumage) are 

 moulting, and skulking in their habits, and the 

 ducks are busy with their broods. Then again, the 

 artist places the drakes in the foreground, which is 

 literally playing " ducks and drakes " with Anatine 

 etiquette. The observer will find that it is the rule, 

 when these birds are alarmed, for the drakes to wait 

 until the ducks are well on the wing before they 

 attempt to follow them ! We can quite sympathize 

 with the artist in wishing to place handsome drakes 

 in the foreground of his picture, and to introduce 

 the pretty flowers to lend an additional charm to the 

 clear still pool, but it has been done at the expense 

 of sacrificing truth to effect. 



Another picture which impressed me was a study 

 of Gulls grouped on a sandy shore. I presume the 

 birds are Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larusfuscus), 

 from the dark-gray colour of the mantle, and that 

 they have been drawn from stuffed specimens or 

 from examples in captivity. Now had the artist 

 gone to Nature for his birds, he would have found 



