1 Bird - Lore 



possessing it we find also the talents of an artist, we have that exceptional 

 combination of gifts which makes the true bird artist. The world has known 

 but few men and no women of this type, and those who are interested watch 

 eagerly for the exhibition of gifts which mark their possessor as a man of 

 promise in the field of bird art. 



During November, 1920, there was held at the Congressional Library in 

 Washington an exhibit of bird paintings at which twenty-four artists were 

 represented. Among the pictures shown were several by Mr. Courtenay 

 Brandreth, of Ossining, New York. Mr. Brandreth's name is new among bird 

 artists, but his pictures aroused such favorable comment that he was subse- 

 quently invited, to exhibit his work in the American Museum. About twenty- 



Ifev-u. 



PORTRAIT OF A LEAST SANDPIPER 

 Ideal treatment of bird drawing for purposes of scientific illustration 



live of his paintings were therefore shown in the forestry hall of the museum 

 in December, 1920, several of which are herewith reproduced. 



Black-and-white reproduction unfortunately gives no indication of Mr. 

 Brandreth's skill as a colorist, but does do justice to his draftsmanship, to the' 

 excellence of which the most exacting technical ornithologist would bear wit- 

 ness. Mr. Brandreth's success in poitraying form, pose,^and expression is due 

 to his natural gifts, to genuine love of birds which sends him to nature for his 

 subjects, and to a course of study under Louis Agassiz Fuertes, master painter 

 of bird portraits. 



Not only are his birds correct in form, but also in feather. To the land- 

 scapist who introduces an alleged Eagle or Gull into his painting for purely 

 artistic purposes it is quite immaterial whether his figure has five or ten pri- 

 maries; nevertheless, the same man would not think of giving a human subject 

 an incorrect number of fingers, and to the ornithologist it is quite as important 

 to give a bird its proper number of wing quills. 



