Spoonbill Wading Among Reeds and Reedmace 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 an adult Spoonbill in breeding plumage wading in shallow water before reeds and reedmace, facing the viewer's right. The long black bill with its broad spoon shaped tip hangs down beside the neck, and the bushy crest at the back of the head is raised. The white plumage is modeled in pale gray tones against the darker reeds behind.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CLVIII" at lower right and "2/7 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.