FEATHERED ARTISTS 3 



wonderfully describes the eggs of the yellow-ham- 

 mer in the following lines: 



"Five eggs, pen-scribbled o'er with ink their shells, 

 Eesembling writing-scrolls^ which Fancy reads 

 As nature's poesy and pastoral spells — 

 They are the yellow-hammer's, and she dwells. 

 Most poet-like, 'mid brooks and flowery weeds." 



We judge an architect by the buildings he rears; 

 and so we must judge the consciousness of beauty 

 and art on the part of the birds by the manner in 

 which they build their nests, decorate their homes, 

 and sometimes themselves. 



This is especially true as to the gardener-bird, the 

 baya of India, the bower-bird, the collar-bird, and a 

 nimiber of other artists whose highly developed es- 

 thetic qualities are demonstrated in their efforts to 

 produce art, and to decorate their homes in accord- 

 ance with the best principles of form and colour. 

 The motmot even goes so far as to disfigure its 

 feathers in the attempt to improve the shape of its 

 tail, while the gardener-bird and the hammerhead 

 have little places near their homes that might be 

 termed their art shops. Here they store gaily- 

 coloured shells, gaudy pebbles, dried flowers, rich 

 feathers, and various small bits of broken wood and 

 pieces of red clay. 



