July, 1890. 
THE ORIGIN OF DECORATIVE ART. 
151 
The rather local Wood Wren was not uncommon in two 
or three localities, and still uttered its sibilant song, shorn of 
its latter part to some extent. Especially in the oak woods 
at Clovelly I noticed it was tolerably abundant. Its congener, 
the Chiffchaff, was also still in song. The Willow Wren, 
too, generally the most abundant of the three, but which is 
said to be less numerous in some parts of West Britain, I 
find entered in my notes as common. Several times in deep 
elm-shaded lanes I heard what I had no doubt was the song 
of the Cirl Bunting ( E . cirlus), and subsequent experience of 
the bird elsewhere has confirmed this conviction. But so 
closely, at this time of year at all events, does the Cirl Bunting, 
skulk in the leafy tree tops that I was never able to obtain a 
clear sight of one of the singers, and a hen bird identified at 
Berrynarbor was the only example of this species which I 
saw in North Devon. Walking into Bideford from Clovelly 
one day I noticed many Kestrels, and was pleased to come 
across some Goldfinches at Ford and Fairy Cross. 
Kittiwakes were flying up the Torridge at Bideford (appar¬ 
ently following the flowing tide) as I stood at the hotel win¬ 
dow after dinner, watching the salmon nets being paid out, 
and listening to the swirl and ripple of the tide as it flowed 
under the old, many-arched bridge, and gradually covered the 
gleaming yellow sands. The furzy cliff tops were often 
enlivened by the sprightly Stonechats, with their young 
broods out on the fern and bramble covered banks, as well as 
by their more terrestrial cousins, the Wheatears. 
(To be continued.) 
THE ORIGIN OF DECORATIVE ART AS ILLUS¬ 
TRATED BY THE ART OF MODERN SAVAGES. 
BY HENRY BALFOUR, M.A., F.Z.S. 
(Concluded from page 136.) 
As in the case of the “ boomerang ” before mentioned, the 
next step, viz., the application of artificial means in order to 
increase the resemblance, followed quickly upon the first 
appreciation of it. The addition, for example, of an eye to an 
object whose form already accidentally resembled an animal’s 
head, or a few touches added to such projecting portions as 
resembled legs, are simple and obvious improvements. The 
carrying a little farther of the use of such means to increase 
an accidental resemblance would in time have suggested that 
