26o 



Sierra Club Bulletin, 



THE MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD AND THE WOOD 

 PEWEE. 



By William Frederic Bade. 



With photographs by the author. 



Fifty-six years ago the French historian, Jules IMiche- 

 let,* published a work entitled "The Bird," which soon 

 passed through nine or ten editions in the French lan- 

 guage. This was followed afterwards by three other 

 works of a similar character, entitled respectively, "The 

 Insect," "The Ocean," and "The Mountain." They all 

 belong to an interesting type of writing about nature, in 

 vogue at that time, which is best described as a senti- 

 mental illustration of natural history. 



One nov/ reads with amusement the author's claim to be 

 scientific in his observations, especially when he places 

 Alphonse Toussenel's Le Monde des Oiseaux, Ornitholo- 

 gie Passionelle (published 1852) on a level with the works 

 of Wilson and Audubon. Giacomelli's illustrations in 

 "The Bird" and Percival Skelton's in "The Mountain" 

 give away his case at a glance. Such a thing as photo- 

 graphic accuracy in reproducing a mountain or a bird 

 never occurred to either of them. The illustrations of 

 birds, unrecognizable as to genus or species, belong mostly 

 to certain forms that had become stereotyped in orna- 

 mental marginal designs. They flutter about in vignettes 

 and do the most unbelievable things. 



In one of the first text illustrations a bird sits on the 

 edge of a table, trying to read a page of the author's 

 manuscript. On the last page of the book four of them 

 sit in various attitudes on his pencil, presumably singing* 



*i798-i874. Published L'Oiseau, 1856; L'Insecte, 1857; La Mer, 1861; 

 La Montagne, 1868. The first and last are the best. Translated into 

 English by W. H. Davenport Adams. 



