White-fronted Goose Standing in Shallow Water 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 White-fronted Goose standing on one leg in shallow water, facing the viewer's right, the other foot tucked up beneath the body. The white blaze at the base of the bill, the dark bars across the belly, the dark head and neck and the closely barred back and flanks are all clearly drawn, and the white under tail coverts show at the left. The single webbed foot is spread on the wet surface.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CLX." at lower right and "3/7 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.