Barnacle Goose Standing at the Water's Edge after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray, uncolored. It shows a Barnacle Goose standing in a film of shallow water, facing right. The face and forehead are white, crossed by a dark line from the eye to the base of the short bill, and set sharply against the black crown, neck and breast. The back and wings are barred in dark bands each edged with a pale fringe, the flanks are pale with soft gray barring, and the dark legs and webbed feet are reflected in the water.

The sheet is lettered "PLATE CLXIII." in italic capitals at lower right. Below the image is the note "2/5 scale", meaning the bird is drawn at two fifths of its natural size. The artist's signature "L. M. Medland" is written in the image at lower left.

The plate comes from The Birds of the British Islands by Charles Stonham, published in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes between 1906 and 1911. This sheet belongs to the third volume, which takes the water birds in systematic order, from the cormorants and herons through the geese and swans to the ducks. The illustrations are after drawings by Lilian M. Medland and are reproduced in photogravure, a photomechanical intaglio process that carries the soft tones of a wash drawing and leaves a plate mark around the image. As throughout the work, no name is printed beneath the bird; each plate carries only its number, a note of the scale of reproduction and the artist's signature. Medland later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia.

Printed in soft black and gray with wide margins, the plate suits a plain frame with a generous mat, alone or beside other plates from the same volume.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.