Brent Goose Swimming, Plate CLXIV after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray, uncolored. It shows a Brent Goose swimming to the right on still water. The head, neck and upper breast are wholly black, broken only by a narrow white crescent on the side of the neck. The back and folded wings are dark, each feather edged paler, the flanks are lighter and barred, and white undertail feathers show beneath the short black tail. The small dark bill and the reflection of the bird in the water are drawn in soft tone.

The sheet is lettered "PLATE CLXIV." in italic capitals at lower right. Below the image is the note "1/2 scale", meaning the bird is drawn at half 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.