THE LATE WILLIAM BRODRICK. 141, 
The figures of Hawks are in their way inimitable, and bear com- 
parison with the best work of his friend and only rival in the 
same line, the accomplished animal painter Joseph Wolf. The 
letterpress has only one fault, that of being too short. It con- 
tains, however, almost all that modern falconers deem essential 
to be told, the works of the old masters—even the best of them— 
being overladen with errors, notably in the many fanciful and 
absurd recipes for the cure .of real or imaginary diseases in 
Hawks. In this direction it must be confessed the work above 
mentioned does not err, though we opine that modern falconers 
would yet be grateful for a somewhat longer pharmacopceia than 
is therein contained. In 1873 a second edition of this work 
appeared through the same publisher (Mr. Van Voorst), when, the 
original lithographic stones having been destroyed, the plates 
were re-drawn by Mr. Brodrick, with some additions. Previously 
to this, however, namely, in 1865, the same hand had produced a 
charming series of folio plates. of Hawks, entitled ‘ Falconers’ 
Favourites,’ in which he gave life-sized coloured figures of a 
famous Tiercel “‘ Comet,” from Lundy, and “‘ Hurricane,” the best 
Dutch passage Falcon he ever possessed, with other portraits ofa 
Goshawk and Sparrowhawk, Hobby, and Merlin. Nor did Mr. 
Brodrick’s talent end here. A lifelong study of the habits and 
attitudes of birds of prey, in motion and at rest, coupled with 
unusual skill as a taxidermist, resulted in the production of some 
of the most remarkable groups of stuffed birds with which we are 
acquainted. With the exception of his friend Mr. John Hancock, 
of Newcastle, no amateur in this line has ever rivalled him in his 
best efforts. His house was full of stuffed birds, and some of his 
finest cases, having to be moved for want of room, were lent for 
exhibition to the museums of Bath and Exeter, where we have 
_ often admired them, and where, it is to be hoped, they will be 
allowed to remain. Nor were the smaller kind of birds neglected. 
Of Canaries especially Mr. Brodrick was an excellent judge and 
successful exhibitor, possessing the purest, and latterly almost 
the only, representatives of that singular variety known as the 
“London Fancy.” Like all admirers of this particular strain of 
late years, he found them sterile and troublesome to breed and 
rear, and towards the end they dwindled down to one or two, and 
finally became extinct, for it is believed that there are not now to 
be found any good representatives of this once much-prized breed. 
