Acer palmatum, although there are more than 100 species of maple worldwide, only one species (Acer campestre) is native to the UK.

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Natural history

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"New-Holland Crimson-billed Gull"
Artist: Port Jackson Painter
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 28.2 x 20.7 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 345

 
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Bird in profile, facing to the right with its head facing upwards, holding a fish in its bill. It is depicted standing on a grey rock overlaid with darker serpentine lines, in front of water represented by a gradated wash of blue through white, pale yellow and pink to blue, overlaid with short horizontal black lines. There is land in the background to the left, and the sky is stained pink at the horizon. The bird has a white head and underparts overlaid with grey hatched lines. The back and wing are blue overlaid with grey, while the tips of the wings are white barred with black. The bill and legs are red. The drawing is annotated in ink and pencil, and framed by a pencil border at the top and sides with a base-line of two ruled lines of black ink which separate the drawing from the ink annotations.

 
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  • Port Jackson Painter]
  • The drawing is annotated in ink at bottom "Reduced scale to half the size of the Bird which the drawing was taken from,".
  • The drawing is unsigned and undated.
  • The drawing is inscribed in ink at top right with the number "277.". This refers to the catalogue list compiled by John Latham c. 1801 which was acquired with the drawings, and is filed with them at the end of the Watling Drawings series.
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "new Holland Crimson-billed Gull La MS". This has been copied in ink at bottom, "New Holland Crimson billed Gull Latham MS". "Latham MS" refers to the manuscript catalogue list compiled by John Latham (see note above).
  • This bird was identified as the Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae in Hindwood K. A. (1970).
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "Lambert Drawing. III 19.". This refers to a related set of drawings from the collections of the 13th Earl of Derby, held in the Library at Knowsley Hall, Lancashire.
  • The author of this catalogue record is Suzanne Stenning.
  • By permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London)
  • Two sets of transparencies held in the Natural History Museum (London) Zoology Library and Picture Library: Picture Library reference number 12345
  • James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
  • Data sheet available.
  • Hindwood K. A. 'The "Watling" drawings with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales for the years 1968-69 (1970).