Pink-footed Goose Feeding at the Water's Edge 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 Pink-footed Goose standing at the edge of shallow water and stooping to feed, the neck bent sharply down so that the bill touches the surface near a tuft of grass at the viewer's right. The dark head and neck, the short bill with dark base and nail and a pale band between, the barred flanks and the pale edged feathers of the back and wing are carefully drawn, and the white under tail shows at the left.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CLXII." at lower right and "2/7 scale" at lower center, the scale at which the bird is drawn. The artist's signature, "L. Medland", 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.