I need not explain how these Shadows were suggested, to any one who has seen WILKIE&#39;S picture, &quot;The Rabbit on the Wall.&quot; But by what pains they were invented can never be revealed; for it is known to my tortured digits alone, and they, luckily for me, are dumb. I calculate that I put my ten fingers through hundreds of various exercises before my &quot;Bird&quot; took wing; my left little finger thrills at the memory of &quot;Grandpapa&quot;; and my thumbs gave in no less than twenty times before &quot;Boy&quot; was accomplished. Yet now how easy it is to make the &quot;Duck&quot; to quack, the &quot;Donkey&quot; to bray, &quot;Toby&quot; to wag his tail, and the &quot;Rabbit&quot; to munch his unsubstantial meal.<br /><br /><br />Of course the Shadows are not to be reproduced perfectly, on &quot;one trial only&quot;; but I believe that in each case I have drawn the due position of the fingers with such care, that the most difficult subject may be accomplished after a few minutes; nor need ingenious youth or parental fondness confine their endeavours to the sketches contained in this book. With a little ingenuity and some patience, new shadows may be produced; and not unfrequently figures appear that one never dreamed of attempting.