NATURE NOTES. 
i So 
guardians would be instructed through literature approved by experts in our 
Councils) protection of the objects which certain sections of all classes of the 
community seem ever willing to destroy. For a few paltry pounds, village greens, 
open spaces in towns, commons, pleasant groves, time-honoured trees lovingly 
protected by our ancestors through many a troublous time, are handed over to 
the tender mercies of that brigand, the jerry builder, who, with his brick-thick 
houses and his tinfoil pipes, preying on the savings of the working man, has the 
audacity to prate of the improvements wrought by him in his own neighbourhood 
— a neighbourhood in which, within the memory of man, country lanes and paths 
and real stiles, hedgerows with flower-strewn banks, and trees with live birds in 
them, existed and contributed to the wholesome recreation of townspeople. 
All we have to do in the Selborne Society is, having good reasons for the 
truth that is in us, to strive unceasingly to increase our numerical strength, and 
then use it firmly, but with judgment. As long as we can get good volunteer 
guardians it does not matter twopence whether they subscribe or not. We want 
Selbornites everywhere, ever on the watch, always striving to prevent unnecessary 
destruction, and ready to call in the aid of the Society, and through it, other 
societies able to accomplish that which a few protestants, however earnest, cannot 
succeed in doing. 
Now is the time for enlisting subscribers to the Selborne Society for 1891. 
The subscriptions will be due on New Year’s Day. Non-subscribers are not 
entitled to receive the organ of the Society, therefore it is desirable that full mem- 
bers should circulate Nature Notes and other literature published by the 
authority of the Society amongst them. 
Furze bank, Torquay. George A. MUSGRAVE. 
The Bird-Pictures of H. Stacy Marks, R.A. — All lovers of birds — 
and what true Selbornian is not fond of birds ? — should visit Mr. Stacy Marks’s 
“ poultry show ” — as his exhibition of bird pictures is sometimes irreverently called. 
To those who went to the exhibition of last year it will be sufficient to say that 
this, as a whole, is in no wise inferior. The popularity of these little pictures is 
evinced by the large number of them to which is affixed already the legend 
“sold.” The various humorous groups of penguins will be found to be amongst 
the popular favourites. The wonderful amount of individual character and ex- 
pression that the painter is capable of imparting to his presentments of these 
birds must be seen to be believed. One of the best of these is, perhaps, the 
picture entitled “ Romeo and Juliet.” The comical figures of the gentle 
Romeo below and the tender Juliet on her balcony are delicious in the extreme. 
In “The Cut Direct ” the title accurately describes the contemptuous indifference 
shown by one of these birds to his fellow. “ A Peace Maker ” depicts a trio of 
penguins, the centre figure obviously interposing between the other two in the 
interests of peace. Some of the portraits are so wonderfully human in their 
expression that they resemble people we all know. One, for instance, purporting 
to be an eagle, is a particularly striking likeness of the “ grand old man,” as 
characteristic as any Mr. Furniss has given us in the pages of Punch. Whether the 
Banksian cockatoo was purposely hung by the side of the old gentleman revelling 
in a rare edition on ornithology I know not, but the facial resemblance is very notice- 
able. No 96, “ The New Neighbour,” is more highly finished than the majority. 
The inquiring attitude of the Adjutant gazing inquisitively at the Cape sea lion, 
newly introduced into the neighbouring enclosure, is very provocative of mirth. 
The sea lion, rather alarmed, is keeping well out of the reach of the investigating 
beak of his neighbour. No. 48, “Pallas’s Sand Grouse” will give those who 
have not seen this rave visitor to our shores an opportunity of making his acquain- 
tance. As before, Mr. Stacy Marks has painted for us in all their glory, some of 
the more brightly coloured of the birds. The skilled artist revels in rendering 
these rich-plumaged gems of the air. Take, for example, the vivid colouring of 
the red and yellow macaws (primary colours, O South Kensington !) or No. ill 
“Heads, Military, Hyacinthine, and Blue and Orange Macaws.” In a most 
interesting and racy preface to the catalogue Mr. Stacy Marks, while showing that 
he is no rabid sentimentalist, takes occasion to refer to the wholesale destruction 
of rare birds caused by the demand for the adornment of ladies’ caps, bonnets and 
even dresses. 
