Crested Shag Drying Its Wings on a Rock after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray tones without added color. It shows a Shag in breeding plumage standing on a low rock at the water's edge with both wings held open to dry, the familiar pose of the cormorant family. The head is turned to the viewer's left and tilted up, with the upcurled crest on the forehead, the pale eye and the slender hooked bill clearly drawn. Every wing feather is carefully modeled, the dark scaled mantle shows its pale edgings, the broad webbed feet grip the rock and the stiff tail is spread below.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CXLVI" at lower right and "1/3 scale" at lower center, the scale at which the bird is drawn. The artist's signature, "L. M. Medland", is drawn into the image. No species name is printed on the plate; the identification given here is made from the drawing itself.

Charles Stonham's The Birds of the British Islands was issued in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes from 1906 to 1911, and this plate is from the third volume. Every plate in the work was made after drawings by Lilian M. Medland and printed by photogravure, so the tones of her original brush and wash drawing survive in a single ink. Medland later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia.

Printed in a single tone on a generous sheet, the plate looks well in a plain frame with a pale mat, alone or as part of a group of birds.

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