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NOTES AND NEWS. 



A collection of drawings from the pencil of Mr. John Hancock, the eminent 

 naturalist, has just been presented by him to the Natural History Society, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, and they are now on view in the Museum at Barras Bridge. 

 The drawings consist chiefly of studies of birds from life, and were sketched by 

 Mr. Hancock to assist him in setting up the beautiful collection of stuffed birds 

 which forms so prominent a feature of the treasures in this museum. They are con- 

 tained in thirty-two frames, of which two are devoted to numerous miscellaneous 

 coloured sketches, amongst which are depicted a pair of Elephant Hawk Moths 

 found near the Thames, Bananas in flower at the Crystal Palace, Fungi and 

 Edible Chanterelles. The remaining frames, with the exception of the last (which 

 contains drawings of various quadrupeds), consist entirely of drawings of birds, mostly 

 from life — Hawks, Teal, Cormorants, Gulls, Herons, etc., and numerous small birds, 

 displaying their characteristic attitudes whilst feeding, swimming, sleeping, etc., 

 and often introducing their natural surroundings with highly artistic treatment. 

 The sketches range from the mere outline of a head, foot, or wing, to beauti- 

 fully finished water-colour drawings of birds and groups of birds. Among the 

 latter must be mentioned a very fine study of dead game in black and white, and 

 another frame containing three groups of Red-necked Phalaropes, Stonechats, 

 and Blue Tits, together with several designs for cases of stuffed birds, amongst 

 which is a sketch of an Eagle attacking a Heron, to which we can trace the design 

 of the magnificent central case in the Bird-room of the Museum — ' The Eagle 

 attacking Swans.' There is besides a frame of brilliantly coloured designs for the 

 Hevvitson case of Birds of Paradise, bequeathed to the British Museum. The 

 whole of the sketches are characterised by the life-like appearance and natural 

 attitudes of the subjects, and are in strong contrast in this respect to Bewick's 

 drawings for his book of birds, which hang in the next gallery, and which appear 

 for the most part to have been sketched from stuffed specimens, and these by no 

 means irreproachable examples of the ornithologists' art. Enthusiastic collectors 

 of Bewick's works are often liable to extend to him as a naturalist the admiration 

 which as a reviver of wood-engraving he is certainly entitled to. This collection 

 of Mr. Hancock's studies reveals the source of the life which he has breathed into 

 the feathered occupants of his cases in the Bird-room below, and the secret of the 

 success which has attended his labours in this branch of natural history, surpassing 

 perhaps any of his fellow-workers in the same field. The Natural History Society 

 of Newcastle is to be congratulated on its recent valuable acquisition, and we 

 deeply regret that Mr. Hancock's failing health renders him unable to continue 

 his labours in a field in which he is so distinguished a worker. 



It will not be out of place to refer to the approaching meeting of the British 

 Association in Leeds, and to remind such as propose to read papers that they 

 should send an abstract (along with the paper itself) to the General Secretaries of 

 the Association in London, on or before the 6th August. 



One of the excursions in connection with the Leeds meeting of the British 

 Association will be to Malham Tarn and Cove, and Gordale Scar, on Thursday, 

 Sept. nth, has been placed in the hands of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, and 

 will be organised as a practical excursion calculated to prove of considerable 

 interest to field-workers in natural history and geology, the district being remark- 

 ably productive in almost every branch of the natural sciences. 



We note with a considerable amount of regret that our Liverpool contemporary 

 ' Research ' has ceased to exist at the end of its second volume. In the hands of 

 Mr. Norman Tate it was so ably conducted that its appearance was looked for 

 with pleasurable anticipation by numbers of readers, who will now much miss its 

 excellent portraits and memoirs, and its well-written and adequately illustrated 



articles on the scientific aspects of health-resorts. 



Naturalist, 



