STUDIES IN JAPANESE ART 253 



pottery and porcelain, being drawn in blue by the 

 Hizen artists, and in brilliant colours by those of 

 Satsuma. The Peacock is not a native of Japan, 

 but of India, whence it was transported eastward 

 into China, and eventually into Japan.^ 



The Wild-goose {Gan) is very skilfully treated 

 by Japanese artists, and, like the Crane, is depicted 

 in a variety of attitudes. Representations of 

 ordinary domestic fowls are frequently to be met 

 with, and are usually drawn with great accuracy. 

 Cocks are commonly kept in Temple grounds, 

 where they are carefully attended to by the priests 

 and others, because they foretell changes in the 

 weather, and by the regularity of their crowing 

 mark the passage of time. This no doubt, as 

 suggested by Messrs Audsley and Bowes, accounts 

 for the frequent representation of the cock perched 

 on the top of a Temple drum. 



These are some of the more important birds 

 commonly to be met with in Japanese works of 

 art. Amongst the smaller birds easily identified 

 are the Coal Titmouse, the Long-tailed Titmouse, 

 the Redstart {RtUicilla mtrorea, Pallas), the Tree 

 Sparrow [Passer montanusy Linn.), which is the 

 domestic sparrow of Japan and China, the sexes 

 being alike in plumage; and the Bullfinch 

 [Pyrrhula orientalis, Temm. and Schleg.), which is 

 much valued by the Japanese as a cage-bird. With 

 such fidelity to nature are all these depicted, that 

 there is no mistaking the species intended. 



1 See the article "Peacock" in Hehn's Wanderings of Plants 

 and Animals from their first home, 1885, p. 263. 



