398 CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS IN 



means up to the standard of the illustrations furnished in 

 former volumes. 



1 see that these are all by Mr. Keulmans, and that 

 Mr. Keulmans can draw most beautifully when he chooses to 

 take the trouble, I should be the last to deny. 



Since Mr. Wolff has retired, no one quite equal to 

 Mr. Keulmans has^ to my fancy, appeared. But these present 

 drawings are by no means creditable to him. No one would 

 credit that they were the work of an old and experienced artist. 

 They look like the early efforts of some beginner — a promising 

 beginner, no doubt, destined to turn out good work hereafter, 

 but as yet quite wanting finish, softness of touch, and delicate 

 appreciation of colour. Nothing can be more harsh and crude 

 than some of them. They remind one of some of the illustra- 

 tions in Jardine^s works. 



If Mr. Keulmans is going to draw in this style in future, it 

 will be a national misfortune. If it were any one else it would 

 not signify, but if he, foremost in the ranks of ornithological 

 artists, is to set such an example, it will certainly materially 

 tend to lower the high standard which has, of late years, been 

 attained. How my friend Mr. Sharpe ever put up with some 

 of these plates, I cannot understand. / have had to accept far 

 worse, no doubt, in the " Game Birds of India," but then I 

 was out in India, and was compelled to accept what the artists 

 and chromo-lithographers chose to favour me with ; but when 

 one has the artists at oncers elbow, and can check every stage 

 in their proceedings, it is widely different. 



I must again call attention to the apparent hopelessness of 

 the completion of this Catalogue within any reasonable time. 

 I think it was early in 1873 that Mr. Sharpe commenced work, 

 so that it has taken six years to compile these four volumes. No 

 onCj I am sure, could have possibly done more within the same 

 period, with the assistance available to him, than Mr. Sharpe 

 has done ; but at the same time the fact remains that somewhat 

 less than 1,400 species and sub-species have been dealt with in 

 six years, so that at the present rates, reckoning the total 

 number of species and sub-species now known, at between 14 and 

 15^000, it will take between 50 and 60 years to complete the 

 work. I am aware that one volume, at any rate, has been under- 

 taken by Mr. Seebohm, but this will not materially affect the 

 progress of the work, and no great number of volunteers will, I 

 apprehend, be found to follow Mr. Seebohm's example. Mr. 

 Howard Saunders might, perhaps, be induced to do the Gulls, 

 and Mr. Harting some sections of the Waders, and there are 

 one or two others who might perhaps similarly assist in particular 

 groups. But if the British Museum authorities want the Cata- 



