Newly Hatched and Downy Young of the Cormorant or Shag after Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray tones without added color. It shows two young birds of the cormorant family on one sheet. Above, Fig. I is a newly hatched chick, still almost naked and smooth skinned, resting in a nest of twigs with its eyes nearly closed, drawn at life size. Below, Fig. II is an older chick in thick dark down, lying on the ground with its neck raised and the slender hooked bill already formed, its pale chin and throat standing out against the dusky down.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CXLVII" at lower right and "1/3 scale" at lower center, the scale of the lower figure. The upper figure is lettered "Fig. I" with "Life Size" beneath it, and the lower figure "Fig. II". The artist's signature, "L. M. M.", is drawn into the image. No species name is printed on the plate; the identification given here is made from the drawing itself.

This plate is from the third volume of The Birds of the British Islands by Charles Stonham, published by E. Grant Richards in London in five volumes between 1906 and 1911. The drawings are by Lilian M. Medland, and the plates were printed by photogravure, an intaglio process made from a photograph of the drawing, which gives the soft, continuous tone and the faint plate mark visible on the sheet. Each bird is shown at a stated fraction of life size, printed beneath the image.

A plain wood or black frame with a wide off white mat suits the quiet tones of this plate.

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