LITERATURE OF JAPAN. 
3U 
colours. I possess myself what I believe to be a 
rare little book, consisting of a series of beautiful 
etchings of towns and scenery, done on copper. 
Among my Japanese books, two are very excel- 
lent. One is a book of birds, reminding me some- 
what of the splendid “Birds of Australia,” in 
which Gould, assisted by his wife, has given us 
drawings not only of the birds themselves, but also 
of the flowers, plants, trees, or localities Avhich are 
most afiected by them. This work is something of 
the same nature. Tlie Japanese artist has depicted 
the swallows winging their way through the air, 
the familiar wren hopping jauntily about the 
flowers in the garden, the snow-bunting j)erchcd on 
the branches of snow-laden fir-trees, the sportive 
fly-catchers pursuing their insect prey in the bright 
sun, the butcher-bird sitting watchfid, with cruel 
eye, on the outstretched arm of an oak, the little 
lively tits peering about for grubs among the 
branches of Persimmon trees, the coot dreaming on 
the margin of a lake, the lark walking on the 
ground, the sparrow in the rice-field, the plover 
