No. 58. — 1907.] JOAN GIDEON LOTEN, F.R.S. 



221 



the very small hands and feet and the reciprocally unequal 

 length of the fingers and toes. In the case of the birds , attention 

 should be paid to the so-called beard-hairs which some kinds 

 bear at the root of the beak, the colours so varying of the iris 

 of the eye and of the eye-circles, the size and form of the 

 cutaneous scutellse or excrescences on the legs and toes ; in 

 connection with which I specially draw your attention to the 

 correct representation of the characteristic skin of the foot of 

 the parrots, and, on the other hand, the entirely different one 

 of the ducks, also to the difference in the placing of the toes, in 

 proportion as we have to do with sitters or with climbers ; the 

 same with respect to the web of swimmers and paddlers. 



And now let us observe once again how de Bevere knew 

 how to handle the colouring brush. Whether it be dark 

 simple tints or fiery and variegated colours, broad surfaces 

 or fine lines, he knows how to represent everything faithfully, 

 be it with bird, insect, or plant. He shrinks from nothing ; 

 whether it be that he has to do with the finely marbled plu- 

 mage of an owl, the handsome feather shades of a gay-coloured 

 barbet, the metallic lustres of other birds' bodies, the eye of 

 a peacock's feather, the body of a fish glistening like mother-of- 

 pearl, a satiny butterfly's wing, a fine plant-leaf with coloured 

 veins, or the delicate transitions of colour in the corolla of a 

 flower. 



And then several of the plates considered in their entirety, 

 such as those of the Little-eared Owl,* the Little Barbet, f the 

 Paradise Flycatcher s,{ the pair of little Honey suckers § on the 

 tree-stem overgrown with orchids, the nest of the Tailor-bird, || 

 are these not gems of natural life ? 



I flatter myself to have thus said enough to commend these 

 plates to your special attention and to that of your artistic 

 friends and acquaintances. 



* The Little Horn Owl referred to below. 



f The Red-crowned Barbet of Brown's New Illust. of Zool. (see infra). 



% This plate does not appear to have been reproduced in any of the 

 works mentioned later on. 



§ I am uncertain if this plate has been copied in any of the works 

 described under Section III. 



[J See further on regarding this. 



