PICTURESQUE ANIMALS. 



It may be observed that in pictures, when a certain 

 effect is required, an animal is often introduced whose 

 character and habits correspond with the scenery, or the 

 sentiment to be awakened. A scene in nature without 

 some such accompaniment often fails in producing any 

 emotion in the mind. A heron standing on the borders 

 of a solitary mere, a kingfisher sitting on the leafless 

 branch of a tree that extends over the tide, a woodpecker 

 climbing the denuded branch of an oak, yield to the re- 

 spective scenes in which they are represented a life and 

 a character which could not be so well expressed with- 

 out them. A few cows grazing on a grassy slope, a dog 

 reposing at the doorstep of a cottage, or a cat quietly 

 slumbering inside of the window, are each suggestive of 

 pleasant images of rural life, and add greatly to the inter- 

 est of the scene. The majority of animals require to be 

 viewed in connection with certain other objects to acquire 

 a picturesque expression ; but there are others which are 

 endowed with this quality in a remarkable degree, and 

 need only to be seen in any situation to awaken a certain 

 agreeable train of images. 



Among birds the owl is often represented in engrav- 

 ings, when it is designed to impart to the scene a char- 

 acter of desolation. We often see this bird accompanying 

 a picture of rains or of a deserted house, and in poetry 

 he is introduced to awaken certain peculiar trains of 

 thought. Thus the poet Gray, when he would add a des- 

 olate expression to his description of evening, speaks of 



