ANIMAL ESTHETICS 407 



with a conical mass of moss, and sheltering a gallery round it. 

 One side of this hut is left open, and in front of it is arranged 

 a bed of verdant moss, bedecked with blossoms and berries of 

 the brightest colours. As these ornaments wither they are 

 removed to a heap behind the hut, and replaced by others that 

 are fresh. The hut is circular and some 3 feet in diameter, and 

 the mossy lawn in front of it nearly twice that expanse. Each 

 hut and garden are, it is believed, though not known, the work 

 of a single pair of birds, or perhaps of the male only; and it 

 may be observed that this species, as its trivial name implies, is 

 wholly inornate in plumage. Not less remarkable is the more 

 recently described ' bower ' of Prionodura, a genus of which the 

 , , male ... is conspicuous for his bright orange coloration. This 

 structure is said by Mr. Devis ... to be piled up almost hori- 

 zontally round the base of a tree to the height of from 4 to 6 

 feet, and around it are a number of hut-like fabrics, having the 

 look of a dwarfed native camp." 



With the stages in the evolution of human art we are here 

 not directly concerned, but enough has been said to show that a 

 careful study of the habits of animals is likely to throw a 

 good deal of light upon the subject. 



Animals as Material for Art and Literature. — Animals 

 form such an important part of the environment of man that 

 they naturally figure largely in art and literature. If, in ima- 

 gination, we entirely eliminate animal forms from galleries of 

 sculpture or pictures we shall realize this very fully, and ideas 

 derived from the animal world are also embodied to some extent 

 in music. As we have elsewhere seen (p. 341), the Tarantella 

 originated with reference to a kind of spider. 



The art of decoration is also indebted to the animal world, 

 some of the most beautiful designs being based upon animal 

 forms. Mr. Talwin Morris' "peacock design" on the covers of 

 this book is a particularly charming example. 



In literature our debt to animals is no less great. The very 

 letters of the alphabet, which, as everyone knows, are the descen- 

 dants of Egyptian picture-symbols or hieroglyphs, were in some 

 instances originally based on animal forms. V, for example, 

 represents the last remains of a drawing of the Horned Viper 

 (Cerastes) of Egypt (fig. 1285). 



Animals make no inconsiderable figure in both prose and 



