Wigeon Drake Swimming, Plate CLXXIX after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray, uncolored. It shows a Wigeon drake swimming to the right on calm water. The round head carries a pale forehead and crown above a darker face, and the bill is short and narrow. The breast is smooth and plain, a long white panel shows along the folded wing, and the flanks are finely vermiculated. At the rear a white patch sits before the black stern, and the ripples and reflection of the bird are drawn in soft tone.

The sheet is lettered "PLATE CLXXIX." in italic capitals at lower right. Below the image is the note "1/2 scale", meaning the bird is drawn at half its natural size. The artist's signature "L. M. Medland" is written in the image at lower left.

The plate comes from The Birds of the British Islands by Charles Stonham, published in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes between 1906 and 1911. This sheet belongs to the third volume, which takes the water birds in systematic order, from the cormorants and herons through the geese and swans to the ducks. The illustrations are after drawings by Lilian M. Medland and are reproduced in photogravure, a photomechanical intaglio process that carries the soft tones of a wash drawing and leaves a plate mark around the image. As throughout the work, no name is printed beneath the bird; each plate carries only its number, a note of the scale of reproduction and the artist's signature. Medland later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia.

Printed in soft black and gray with wide margins, the plate suits a plain frame with a generous mat, alone or beside other plates from the same volume.

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