Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/126

 the lower. Look swiftly from the beak to the eye, from the eye to the beak. Notice the shape of the head. Mark all these positions lightly before settling down to the careful drawing of each particular feature.

When we draw the head of a girl or a boy we draw first the cranium, then the face, and lastly the features. We check one thing with another, as we have discussed very fully in an early chapter. We must apply the same methods when we are drawing our pets, animals or bipeds.

Compare (and of course with the pencil) the beaks of birds: the beak of the seagull with that of the swallow, or with that of the parrot. In the last-mentioned bird the beak seems to predominate and form the greater part of the skull. Sketch the curious square shape of the parrot's upper and lower beak, together with the wrinkled skin, and the sharp cunning little eye.

Birds' feet and legs exhibit astonishing variations of form. What, for instance, could be more dissimilar than a stork's leg and an owl's, the duck's web and the swallow's claw, the eagle's talon and the sparrows? We are very much inclined to be careless about he drawing of birds' feet. How often do we see the leg drawn in one long line, from which fork three long strokes (purporting to be the claws), and the talon behind the leg, corresponding to the heel of a human being, forgotten&mdash;or, if not quite forgotten, almost negligible?

Note, also, that when the bird with the taloned feet moves along a flattened surface, the feet rest on pads, and the projection of the long talons pushes the feet in curves from the ground.

It is true that the webbed foot of the wading bird lies flat on the surface of the ground, but never the foot with the talons and claws.

Note the fluffiness of the feathers on the thigh of the birds, then the thick muscular skin of the leg itself (wrinkled often on the forepart). Try to sketch the joint, the spread of each toe, the curved talon and the pointed nail, with strength.