72 
NATURE NOTES. 
Sunday, the 30th of Januarjq 1889, “ he turned his head upon one 
side, and quietly passed away.” 
Not a great life, or even an eventful one, but a life of useful 
work, of much happiness both to himself and to others. How 
far the influence of his work may have extended it is impossible 
to conjecture ; but we may, at least, be sure that for much of the 
love of Nature and of created things which has grown up among 
us during the last thirty years, we have to thank the example 
and the teaching of the Rev. J. G. Wood. 
James Britten. 
THE STARLING. 
You with the yellow bill and tongue unresting, 
The mottled neck and breast of iris sheen 
That from dark purple glances into green. 
Where is your gossip, and your wonted jesting ? 
Why, with such melancholy loud protesting 
So wake the morn ? What can your sighing mean ? 
Does not fny roof conveniently lean ? 
Have you no pleasure in your April nesting ? 
Ah ! little mocker, you but make-believe, 
For you have caught my sorrow’s trick and know 
My grief, and like a fool in motley bent, 
To give me back my long-lost merriment. 
Lo ! with loud chuckle underneath the eave, 
You make your muffled laughter overflow. 
H. D. Rawnsley. 
BIRDS IN ART. 
“ Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 
Are sweeter.” — KeA'I'S. 
HE depicture of the human form has so arrogated to 
itself the primary interest in painting, that the 
large part that bird-life has played in pictures 
appears to have received very little notice ; and 
yet we find that, from the earliest ages, the study of birds 
formed a part of the artist's education, and one which 
apparently was brought nearer to perfection than that . of 
the figure or landscape. An old traveller speaks of being 
able to recognise at a glance the different birds executed on one 
of the great monumental trophies peculiar to the Egyptians, 
whilst in Assyrian pictures we see birds flying through the air, 
pecking at the fruit and buds on trees, and seeking shelter beneath 
a row of conventional trees, which are supposed to represent a 
dense forest. Among the Greeks the birds were ever present. 
We all know how the birds in the air flew down to peck at the 
grapes carried by a boy in the celebrated picture by Zeuxis, 
